April 8, 2025 • 42 mins
Welcome to Dub Dynasty, the limited podcast series that covers the behind the scenes story of the Golden State Warriors dynastic four championship run over the last ten years, and looks ahead to the next chapter in their incredible journey as the Warriors continue to push for success during the 2025 season.
In Episode 1, host Israel Gutierrez talks about why the Run TMC Warriors were his introduction to NBA basketball as a kid, and how a franchise that last won a title in 1975 begins to put the pieces together to form one of the greatest teams ever. We dive deep into the draft day drama that nearly resulted in Steph Curry never becoming a Warrior, and we hear from inside the organization about why many felt Steph wouldn’t reach Super-Star level success.
Dub Dynasty is a production of iHeartPodcasts and the NBA
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Dubb Dynasty as a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And it's over.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
The championship is back in the Bay for the first.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Time in forty years. There's the buzzer. There's a new
dynasty in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors champions once again,
back to back titles three and four years.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
The run is not done. The Golden State Warriors once
again are NBA champions.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yep, those are the Golden State Warriors, celebrating championships like
it's their birthright. You're probably wondering how they got in
this situation, no belk fine, but if I told you
it took forty years of frustration to reach those celebrations,
that a basketball crazed region now drunk off success, was
(00:54):
once a group of disillusioned diehards just hoping for any
kind of consistency, and that it took some of the
boldest decisions in the sports history to get you'd at
least be somewhat intrigued. Tossing the fact that the person
most responsible for this remarkable rewriting of a franchise's history
is the ultimate underdog with the mesmerizing ability and this
(01:17):
Warrior's run over the past decade is far more than
a record scratch moment. It's one of the most entertaining,
unexpected and extended runs we've ever seen. So maybe now
you're wondering how they got here. To tell the story
of these last ten transformative years, Let's go back much hurt,
all the way to the last time Golden State was
(01:38):
holding a Golden trophy. I'm Israel Gutierrez and this is
Doug Dynasty.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Oh, incredible story.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
It's the final damn ninety section five.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Oh, it's a sport, the most highable lawyer series.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I said, I don't believe what's happening when they came back.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Well today, I believe that the Golden State Warriors better
than any want to anticipate.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That familiar voice is that of longtime sports broadcaster Brent
Musburger calling an NBA finals. If that clip sounds like
the nineteen seventies, it's because it was the heart of
the decade May of nineteen seventy five to be exact.
And if the story of the plucky underdog Golden State
(02:39):
Warriors winning the NBA title behind finals MVP Rick Barry
doesn't ring a bell even for avid basketball fans, it's understandable.
The seventies were easily considered the worst decade for the NBA,
nestled in between the Celtics carrying the league in the
nineteen sixties and Magic Larry and Michael reviving the NBA
(02:59):
in the nineteen eighties, and this particular final series was
a great example of just how unserious the league was
back then. The Washington Bullets had home court advantage, but
were given an option to either start the series on
the road or play an odd one two two one
one format, which they chose, starting at home in Landover, Maryland,
(03:21):
then switching to the Bay Area for the next two games.
Why it's simple, really, The Warriors couldn't secure their usual
home Oakland Arena because of a scheduling conflict with Sesame
Street on ice. The Warriors eventually deferred to the Feathered
Bird and instead moved on over to the Cow Palace
(03:45):
in Daily City, near San Francisco for their home games
in the championship series. Despite playing a pair of games
in a bovine residence, the Warriors won all four finals contests,
and did so with Barry as the only player on
his team averaging more than thirty minutes a game. He
played four three a game, and the only player on
(04:05):
his team averaging more than twelve points, he put up
twenty nine and a half per game, giving the Warriors
their first NBA championship and the franchise's first title since
it won something called the Basketball Association of America Championship
in nineteen forty seven, while they were the Philadelphia Warriors.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Underdogs all the way like Warriors.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Championship in the forty years following that nineteen seventy five title,
Bay Area basketball was basically about having a good time,
but not for a very long time, no sustained excellence,
very few extended playoff runs, and a reputation is the
place where NBA careers go to stall out. Despite an
(04:55):
eager fan base that desperately wanted to make Oakland's Arena
the place to be on end given night. Set against
thatreary backdrop, any sort of sustained success would have been
extremely satisfying for fans that saw so many starts and
stops without any real hardware or banners to show for it.
That's why the current Warriors run. A rare, true active
(05:20):
dynasty that has lasted more than a decade has created
a real basketball nirvana, a state of perfect round ball happiness,
a golden state if you will, and.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
That'll do it. It's over. The Golden State. Warriors returned
to a familiar place. They're on top of the NBA
world the fourth title of eight years. The Dubbs dynasty
is still very much alive.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Since the twenty fourteen to fifteen NBA season, the Warriors,
nicknamed the Doves for those who prefer less syllables, have
been the best franchise in the league, winning four championships
and reaching six finals altogether. They've set the record for
most wins in a reg season. They featured the only
unanimous MVP in league history in the transformative Stephan Curry.
(06:10):
They completed arguably the greatest playoff run in NBA history
after adding Kevin Durant and entirely reinvented what it meant
to be a jump shooting team behind the leadership of
head coach Steve Kerr. They did it as the out
of nowhere lovable underdogs, as the big bully favorites, and
as the wily veterans who just knew how to win.
(06:31):
And they did it while transitioning out of Oakland and
into San Francisco becoming one of the glamour franchises in
the league, with the crown jewel of a home arena
and a growing international fan base. A dynasty like this,
the dubbed dynasty that is still active in looking to
add to the trophy case this season and beyond. It'll
(06:53):
do that for a franchise, and even though this magical
run isn't over, it's well worth revisiting this decade full
of unforgettable moments that redefined the Warrior's frand chests, starting
with the centerpiece of his wholetale Steph Curry, and how
his joining the Warriors in two thousand and nine would
change the NBA forever.
Speaker 7 (07:14):
With the seventh pick in the two thousand and nine
NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors select Stephen Curry from
Davidson College.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Before that, Warriors fans were a niche group. There were
the hardcore hoops fans in the Bay and not that
many else outside of it. My NBA origin story actually
begins there as a pre dynasty Warriors fan. I've been
based in South Florida my entire career, but as a
thirteen year old I discovered the run TMC Warriors featuring
(07:48):
the trio of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullen
during the nineteen ninety ninety one season, and I immediately
fell in love. They were nicknamed after the rap group
run Dms, and their fast paced style of play, coached
by offensive minded Hall of Fame Donnie Nelson, had me
eager to stay up past one am, often on the
East Coast to catch their games on TNT, much to
(08:11):
my mother's chagrin.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
Hard Way against Scott.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
They cleared the side it comes.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
The crossovery blows by Please twenty six were hard Away,
It's tip, Golden State intercepts the pass and the Warners
have won this game, the first Golden State playoff win
at the Forum since nineteen sixty.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
That team was one of those handful of exciting but
short lived teams dotting the Warriors history during that forty
year gap between championships, and you'll hear a little more
about all of them later in the pot. By the
time the two thousand and eight two thousand and nine
season ended nearly twenty nine years later, Golden State had
produced a few more versions of exciting, often surprising teams,
(09:00):
but was at the moment two years removed from any
playoff appearances, although as a quick side note, it's absolutely
wild the Warriors didn't make the two thousand and eight
playoffs despite forty seven wins. Every single team in the
Western Conference playoffs that season won at least fifty games,
meanwhile only three in the East Wage. In the eight
(09:20):
to nine season, the Warriors missed the playoffs more traditional,
winning only twenty nine games and setting themselves up for
an NBA draft that would unknowingly change so much about basketball.
That may, the Warriors moved on from Chris Mullen as
the executive vice president's basketball operations, Yes that's same Chris Mullen,
(09:41):
and pivoted to a man named Larry Riley as their
general manager. Despite the switch, Mullen had already done his
homework on the two thousand and nine draft class, much
like his successor would eventually share. Mullen and his staff
had developed an affinity for a scrawny six foot two
point guard with insane scoring ability from a small school
(10:01):
called Davidson College in North Carolin. His official name Wardell
Stephen Curry the second Yeah you'd go by step too.
After the break the draft night drama that changed the
NBA forever. Don Nelson was once again the Warriors head
(10:36):
coach after leaving between nineteen ninety five and two thousand
and five to coach the Nixon Mavericks, and he also
liked the idea of a guard who could put it
in the hole from anywhere on the floor. Regardless of
what the NBA norms were at the time about the
only certainty heading into this draft was that high flying
power forward Blake Griffin out of Oklahoma would be the
(10:56):
number one pick. After that, the only other certainty was
that one future MVP, James Harden, would drafted pretty high.
Even with Curry, a future two time MVP, there was
no sure thing. And that's despite this fact his father
was Dell Curry, a deadly shooter of his own who
played for five teams over a sixteen year career and
(11:17):
shot forty percent from three point range during it. But Mullen,
an NBA Hall of Famer, had a strong feeling about
the junior from Davidson, comparing him to another two time MVP.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
We had done all prep work before I left that position.
One of the minority governors who's not hearing much, showed
me the notes we had Blake number one. We had
Steph two. So we had watched Steph extensively, and Nelly
and I both felt and this was probably maybe a
(11:50):
long shot. At that time, he would be Steve Nash.
You know, that was you know for that was Steve Nash,
two time MVP. That's not you know, underestimating a player.
Obviously Steve has gone past that, but that's kind of
what we saw Steph because he could play on the ball,
he could play off the ball, he had a quick release.
I remember going to watch him at the Garden. Davidson
(12:12):
played West Virginia, which is a really physical defensive team.
Usually when I go to those games, I try to
watch the entire game and not focus on one player,
but I found myself I couldn't take my eyes off
because he was so active off the basketball, which is
really for a young player different most of those players
growing up. They do things with the ball right, dynamic
(12:34):
ball handlers, and when they give it up, they stand.
That's what caught my eye about him. I was like, Wow,
this guy's got that field.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
But it wasn't up to Mullen to make this choice anymore.
This would be a decision headed by former Warriors general
manager Larry Riley, in Indiana native who'd spent his whole
life in basketball, starting his career as an assistant coach
at Southwest Missouri State in nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Yeah, how many times I saw him play, It wasn't
a whole lot. There were criticisms about him that come
about with people who analyze players. Scouts, Okay, he's a
two guard, he's too small, he's weak, he's not a
(13:23):
point guard. The defining moment for me with Steph Kurky
was it was in December, about mid December. Davidson had
scheduled the game with Purdue in Indianapolis, and that was
before the hand checking stuff. You know, Purdue thought they
(13:45):
were playing football, and I knew it would be a
tough thing, and I knew they'd beat him up, and
I wanted to see how he handled the physical play
because that was a question with scouts. Never mind was asking, well,
he's pretty friendly. He looked like he was fourteen years old.
And the second thing was I got a break at
(14:05):
that game for one reason or another, and that may
have been injured to the point guard. That he played
the point in that game a good win, and that
game defined to me that Steph Curry was a guy
who could play in the NBA. And frankly, that was
(14:26):
the last game that I saw him play live because
we had all the video and so I was satisfied
in middle or late December because in that game, he
showed the point guard's feels. He made a long pass,
he made the short pass, and he took the beating
that went along with it. Now they lost the game.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, I was going to say, can I give you
his stat line too? Do you remember that I.
Speaker 8 (14:52):
Think he was I think he was only six for
six for eighteen. It raised in my mind that he
only made about a thirty of its shots.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It was worse than that. He was five of twenty six.
He was two for twelve from three and he had
six turnovers. But he had six assists in three steals
and eight rebounds.
Speaker 8 (15:11):
Well see, and that's what I'm talking about. He produced
on the other levels. I wasn't worried about the shot.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
No one was. Curry's shot is what made him such
an intriguing must watch talent, to the point that Lebron
James famously stopped by to watch one of his NCAA
tournament games in person. It was that drawing tower and
his big game performances that made Steph a certain lottery
pick in the draft, meaning he'd go in the top fourteen.
How high did the rest of the lottery have Curry rated?
(15:43):
Would he ever reach the Warriors at number seven, especially
with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in need of a point
guard choosing twice directly before the Warriors.
Speaker 8 (15:52):
I didn't think he'd be available when we were picking.
In fact, I thought he was going to be gone,
to the extent that we explored trade possibilities for that pick,
and those explorations were based on the fact that Seth
current may not be there. Now Steph was going to
be there. Okay, we know we're going to draft you.
(16:14):
My concern was he's gone, and I have to take
the next guy, Frank White, who I didn't like.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That next guy was Jordan Jordan Hill, that is who
the Knicks drafted immediately after Curry at number eight and
averaged double figures scoring once in his eight year career.
Not sure what kind of podcast would have been birthed
if Hill had been the Warriors pick, but thanks to
the Minnesota draft evaluators at the time, we'll never find
that out. That's because the Wolves drafted two point guards
(16:44):
with the fifth and six picks, Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio
and Syracuse sophomore Johnny Flint. Riley had received a hot
tip that the Wolves would do just that after acquiring
the fifth pick from Washington via trade, but it still
left him nervous.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
I got a call the day before from a source
that told me, Okay, Minnesota's going to do this. Well,
I hardly slept that I could. I just I could
not believe that it was really going to happen. But
from time to time you get sources that you really
(17:21):
believe it. This was one that I said, this guy's
probably right, It's probably going to happen, and I just
I was we couldn't wait until they started picking, and
they actually did.
Speaker 7 (17:37):
With the fifth pick in the two thousand and nine
NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select Ricky Rubio of El Masno,
Spain and Juventu. With the sixth pick in the NBA Draft,
the Minnesota Timberwolves select Johnny Flynn from Syracuse University.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
That left the door open for the Warrior years to
choose Kerk, but as it turns out, it wasn't just
the Timberwolves that Riley and the Warriors should have concerned
themselves with. There was a certain general manager out in Phoenix,
a shooter in his own right, who'd had his eye
with Curry as well. Steve Kerr had been the general
manager of the Suns for two seasons at that point.
(18:23):
He traded for Shaquille O'Neil, acquiring him from Miami his
first season on the job. But Kerr had such faith
in Curry he was willing to trade Phoenix's leading scorer
at the time for a chance to draft the Sun
of Dell. He too saw step as a Steve nashclone
and wanted him in the Valley of the Sun.
Speaker 10 (18:42):
I thought we had a deal, a draft, a deal
to end up, you know, getting him to Phoenix. But
it fell through, and it involved in Amars Stademar, because
I think Amari was you know, still playing at a
high level, and so the Warriors were very in him.
(19:04):
And I don't remember the exact details of the deal,
but we looked at Steph as the next Steve Dash
and you know, we had been watching Steve for all
those years and felt like Steph shared so many of
the same qualities and could be so captivating for our fans,
and just the skill level was just incredible. So I
(19:27):
think the small stature didn't really bother us since we
had watched Steve dominate the league, you know, from a
similar place. So yeah, we were really interested and we
tried hard.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Hang tight, Steve, You'll eventually get your chance to have
Steph on your roster. There was one last hurdle of
sorts for the Warriors to clear before Larry Riley could
officially pull the trigger on drafting Steph. Del Curry's entire
existence playing in the NBA was within that Warrior's title draft,
and he didn't want his son and all his potential
(20:00):
to end up in that wasteland that was Base Area
Professional Hoops. Dell and STEP's agent at the time, Jeff Austin,
informed Riley he prefer the Warriors not to draft Steph.
Steph didn't weigh much, maybe one hundred and eighty pounds
entering the league, but he would attempt to throw that
way around.
Speaker 8 (20:19):
They made it obvious that they did not want him
to come to Golden State. If I was a father,
I wouldn't wanted it either. This is a bad team.
What are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
You know?
Speaker 8 (20:35):
And so I never blamed. And in addition to that,
they did not allow Steph to visit the Golden State
Warriors pre draft, and I did tell Jeff Austin, if
Steph's available, we will pick in spite of that, and
(20:56):
we did.
Speaker 7 (20:57):
With the seventh pick in the two thousand and nine
NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors select Stephen Curry from
Davidson College.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
That booing you heard was the sound of prescient Knicks
fans in the garden that night, already upset they wouldn't
get their chance to draft Curry with the next pick.
Speaker 8 (21:20):
Once that happened, there were never any issues. The Curry family,
Nel Curry and Sonia came. When we introduced Steph, Jeff
Austin came, there was never any issue, and I remember
introducing him and he still looked hocking with fourteen year
(21:41):
old kid.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
It took a full regular season not for Curry to
look any older. He was still the clean shaven, scrawny,
baby faced point guard by the time the regular season
reached its final game. It took a full regular season
for the man who drafted Steph to officially realize he'd
made the correct decision.
Speaker 8 (21:59):
I don't recall a lot of than said that. There
are things that people asked me about that I don't
remember that. But there was a point in his rookie
year we were playing in Portland Park and Steph just
put on a tournamendous shot.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
You know, Curry's like Steve Nash high basketball IQ.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
So he's going to be an all start for years
to come.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Curry step back of a pedagraph.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
He's got another one three point lead again for the Lawyers,
and now we're down there.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
We're a minute forty five left, new career high for
Steph Curry.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Steph finished his first season with a final game stat
line up forty two points, eight assists, nine rebounds, two steals,
one block shot, and a win in what was a
meaningless game to the standings or playoff implications.
Speaker 8 (22:56):
I recall setting in Portland watching him play that game,
and after that game say, okay, we have got our
point guard for the next sten years.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Riley underestimated just how long Curry would run the court
in the Bay. We're currently at sixteen years and counting.
But before that incredible run could even start, there were
a couple of upgrades necessary to create the foundation of
this stable dynasty. One was the ownership group running the team.
The other was a right ankle Curry was running on
(23:29):
when Steph first joined the league. Neither was stable. Chris
Cohan was the Warrior's owner and was often the target
of the ire of Golden State fans, even though most
of the decisions considered problematic under his watch weren't exactly
all his alone. I mean, can you really blame a
team's owner for not drafting Kobe Bryant. But there was
(23:51):
enough failure in those sixteen years that Cohan faced the
brunt of the criticism. When Joe Lagub, a minority owner
of the Boston Celtics at the time, and Peter Gouber,
Mandalay Entertainment CEO, bought the team from Cohen and the
summ of twenty ten, they viewed the franchise not as
one experiencing a decades long championship drought, but one that
had limitless potential if treated properly.
Speaker 9 (24:13):
An opening night out of our ownership, I was introduced.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Lads shut off, head show, Lake up, and Peter.
Speaker 9 (24:21):
Cuber getting ready to take the mic. Nineteen thousand people there.
I didn't really know what I was going to say
it didn't plant it in advance, and I saw the
banner up there and I just pointed, if you look
up there, that is a very lonely flat.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
We want another one.
Speaker 9 (24:40):
I told everybody what I thought was from a heart,
which is, these are the greatest fans in the world,
and you deserve more.
Speaker 11 (24:46):
My new pairgrap color is blue and yellow, and my
favorite letter is W. Lots of w's go get Amorials.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
By the time the Warriors hired Rick Wells in twenty
eleven as their chief operating officer, the vision to improve
the franchise was well underway. Welts had been the president
of the Phoenix Suns. It says he shared the vision
of Lake Op and Goober when it came to Golden State.
Speaker 12 (25:14):
I think everybody who was an observer of the Warriors
over the twenty years before I got there, you would
look at that team and just go, oh, my God, like,
if you could ever get this in the right ownership
and management hands, this shouldn't stand toe to toe with
any franchise in sports. I mean, the place in which
we lived was an amazing place to live. The corporate
(25:34):
base there or the companies that were changing the face
of the world.
Speaker 10 (25:38):
You could be a.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
Part of that fan support for a team that never
made the playoffs, and it was you know, we all
looked at it and just said, oh my gosh. And
then I remember I was president of the Phoenix Suns.
I remember when Joelka and Peter Guber bought the team.
And what really made an impression upon me was their
first real higher When I read the Jerry West, I've let, Okay,
(26:02):
maybe these guys are taking a look at it a
little differently than has historically been the case. But I
was like, you know where, after half an hour of
talking to him, it was like, where do I sign?
They had big aspirations. They had this crazy notion of
perhaps building an arena in San Francisco they talked to
me about then. So for me, it was like I
(26:23):
was so drawn to the opportunity just because I knew
it had success written all over it. I grew up
learning from Jerry Clangelo that the best way to have
NBA organization be successful is to have your business people
and your basketball people aligned on the goals and in
constant communication about how we're going to get there. And
you know, for me, this came to light in Phoenix. Really,
(26:46):
Steve Kerr was our general manager and I would have
a weekly staff meeting on Wednesdays, and Steve came into
my office one day and said, can I come to
your weekly staff meetings?
Speaker 8 (26:56):
Like what?
Speaker 12 (26:57):
Like, Yeah, I think people would enjoy it if you
came to our weekly staff meetings.
Speaker 13 (27:01):
But what was about was not about you know, tell
us how Steve Nash's risk is feeling. It was about, Hey,
we're thinking about next season and you know, we're thinking
of using these players in our campaign. And this is
kind of the theme like what are we missing? What
would the reaction from locker room be to that? What
would what would how would.
Speaker 12 (27:21):
The players feel about that? And that's how Joe and
Peter wanted the organization to be. And there's you can
be successful and not do that. It's possible to do.
But I think to get the most out of the
organization that's the single most important thing.
Speaker 13 (27:33):
And that that to me, really resonated. I think it
was the most important part of our conversation.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
The ownership transition included a coaching change after Don Nelson
ended his second stint with the Warriors in twenty ten.
That meant promoting Keith Smart, who lasted just one season
as head coach, and then hiring former point guard Mark Jackson,
who played over one four hundred games, including the playoffs,
but had never coached a single game. It included a
(28:04):
lot of turnover at all levels of the organization, but
the most problematic turnover was happening on the court, as
in Curry turning his ankle over and over and over again.
Did Verry Neil dribble it off his legs?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Oh my goodness, Steph Curry ankle coming out of the pack.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Oh this is It's just heartbreaking, is all I can say.
Curry would suffer multiple ankle injuries within his first few seasons,
some of them so confounding even his teammates wondered how
long he'd be effective in the league if his right
ankle kept proving to be his actual achilles heel.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Steph is hurt.
Speaker 9 (28:48):
Steph Curry is hurt, saying I will he went straight
down and never moved.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Oh man, he's in a lot of pain.
Speaker 6 (28:57):
Let's see if he steps on someone's foot, Yep, there
it is same foot, yep, Griffin, and he turned that
ankle to same He turned it in San Diego.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Against the David Lee, a teammate of Curry's for five seasons,
saw the frustration's first hand.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
I think the most interesting part about that is whether
it's his jump shot or it's his ankle. Steph never
seemed to waiver on his confidence about his ankle and
his injuries.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
And yeah, he had that one ankle he.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
Kept rolling over and over and you're like, Okay, I
tried something new, and I think I'm good this time.
We'd be in a preseason game. I remember against the
Lakers one time, and it's in the fourth quarter and
it was an absolute you know, not stepping on somebody,
just a simple movement and a completely side of his
ankle touched the ground and you can see the frustration,
but at the same time he just he's like, no, no,
I'm going to get this figured out, and I have
(29:44):
faith that this is going to work out. And I
think he tried like six hundred different kinds of ankle
braces and taping techniques and every which way, and finally
he found something that worked and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
It wasn't just the correct brace or the proper taping
technique that allowed for history to be written It included
a lot of tension because Curry being advised that he
would need an ankle surgery that could include using a
tendon from a cadaver. A doctor Richard Ferkel would be
in charge of repairing Curry's ankle, but not for a
(30:15):
lot of fretting from Steph's father. Dell was no longer
advising an unknown Riley not to draft Curry. He was
now trusting Riley, a known team confidant, to offer advice
about his son's ankle.
Speaker 8 (30:29):
Dell Curry called me. He said, Larry, do you think
he needs surgery though? And I said, yes, he does,
because he's worked, he said on everything. I took him
to Portland to the Niking factory to where we thought
they might be able to build a shoe that would
help statelevise the ankle. On great effort, but it still
(30:52):
wasn't right. I never saw him get down to the
point where he was chattered or thinking it's own. It
may have happened, but never saw it, and I member
since that I felt like I was more worried about it.
Maybe he was at times, but his dad since state urgency.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
But Riley joined the Curry family, including Steph's new wife,
Aisha in the surgical center while Steph was going under
the knife. What doctor Furkle found when he began the
procedure was that there would be no cadaver ligament necessary.
What he discovered was effectively all Steph needed was a
good cleaning out of the oft injured ankle. From Pablo
(31:37):
Torri's twenty thirteen feature in ESPN, the magazine on this subject,
a one ounce HD camera snaked into Curry's subterler and
ankle joints produced images of thick, sticky bands of scar
tissue like crab meat, Furkle says, as well as in
flame tissue, bone spurs, and chips of cartilage. To anyone else,
(32:00):
orthopedic seafood might be revolting. To Curry, it was good news.
Tory's story explained why it was good news. A motorized
device could remove all of that from Curry's ankle in
less than two hours, and it would shorten his expected
recovery time significantly, and by July twenty twelve, after a
(32:21):
season in which he played only twenty six games, Curry
was once again rehabbing his ankle, but this time with
much more faith that the flukiness had also been removed
the season following his ankle procedure was something of a
reintroduction for Curry. While Lebron James and the Miami Heat
were stealing the oxygen from everyone in the league, Steph
(32:42):
was quite literally finding his legs again. He missed only
four regular season games. He damn near doubled his three
point attempts per game while maintaining a forty five percent
shooting clip. Andy had one particular game that, even though
it came in his sports season, was his unofficial coming
out performance. It was February twenty seven, twenty thirteen, in
(33:03):
New York City's Madison Square Guarden, a building Mike Breen
knows so well because he grew up in it and
has called Knicks games inside and out of MSG since
nineteen ninety one as a radio announcer and since nineteen
ninety seven as a television play by play announcer for Wfan.
Who better to describe the magic of MSG than break Well.
Speaker 14 (33:27):
I don't think I'm the most objective person because I
grew up in New York and Madison Square Garden was
the building I went to as a kid, and I
always felt it just had a special aura, but it
just there's a certain sound with that ceiling that they
have there and the stage lighting where it's just like
there's these performers that are on stage and you know,
(33:51):
not a rough and tumble crowd, but a crowd that
doesn't suffer fools. It was just the perfect atmosphere for
a big event.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
On this evening, Curry would have nearly the perfect night
in that perfect atmosphere. Mark Jones and Doris Burke were
there to witness it, calling the game for ESPN.
Speaker 10 (34:15):
Curry with a floater, got it to go.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Tell you what, For a guy who a lot of
people questioned that six three, one hundred and eighty five
pounds could he be effective.
Speaker 14 (34:23):
In the league, he has put those concerns to rest.
Speaker 8 (34:27):
Well.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Andreant to double Coury with a quick trigger.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Cat the three ball.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
You know he does shoot forty five from downtown on
the season. Curry with another jumper and it's a one
point game.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Just you know, he plays with a pace of a
guy who's an old man in the league.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Right, he's still pretty young.
Speaker 8 (34:50):
You don't meet Stephen Curry.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Out He's gonna go with his pace.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
Still the second best shooter in his family, though, I
say yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
But I make a better I agreed.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
Del I'm talking about his brother Secan.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
No, Dell probably will go down as the best families.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
What Dell couldn't do what Stephan does. Curry for the lead,
got it? Steph Curry smooth. He scored the last fifteen
in a row for Golden Set.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
After the break, Steph Curry makes his first major splash
in the NBA.
Speaker 14 (35:31):
I always found in extraordinary when a team comes to
a road arena and a player on that road team
has the ability to kind of capture the hearts of
the fans that are rooting against him and his team.
But it happens when certain arenas a player goes into
and fans just can see greatness or potential for greatness.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
And that night, that's what they saw.
Speaker 14 (35:51):
We all knew that he was he had a chance
to be special, and for him to have that type
of a game that it was so close and they
wind up losing, it made for like the perfect deepening
for the big fans of the Garden because they saw
this maybe the first instance of the greatness of Steph Curry.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
In the second half, Curry, who had an abbreviated version
of the Bible, First Philippians four thirteen, written on his sneakers,
reading I can do all things. Was doing one thing
particularly well. He was scoring with regularity, despite constant double
teams and adding attention from the mixed defense.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
What's the pick and roll of it?
Speaker 8 (36:36):
Take it out of Curry's hands?
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Football, take and the same result we've seen for the
first two periods. You see what I mean? So now
you make the adjustment.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
You're trying to trap and make somebody else beat him.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
But Stephan relok kates after getting out of the trap,
and again like, doesn't you play like an old guy?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Like the pacing and.
Speaker 8 (36:53):
Not getting rattled.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
By the first few minutes of the second half, it
was apparent you were watching one of those memorable performances
you get just a handful of times in an NBA season.
You could hear it in the voices of Jones and Burn,
but if you listen close to enoughs, you also hear
it in the reaction of the fans, the groans and
even a few cheers. As Mike Green predicted, We're getting
(37:20):
louder with every maid Curry bucket.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
The Warriors are connected on fourteen of their AD sixteen.
Make that fifteen of seventeen.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
He's cooking with some hot grease.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Right now, Steph Curry has thirty three put against belc
for three?
Speaker 8 (37:41):
Got it?
Speaker 5 (37:42):
What a night for Steph Curry?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Did you hear them? We've seen that movie before.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
Steph Curry with another three? If he walks back said
to say, I am a bad man, but you got
nothing for me tonight?
Speaker 8 (37:58):
Looking how upset my fortune is?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
How about now Curry for three?
Speaker 8 (38:03):
Who unbelievable?
Speaker 5 (38:06):
Making it rain in New York forty six?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Back in the way, Curry?
Speaker 7 (38:11):
Why not for three?
Speaker 4 (38:13):
Big go? And the next crowd is stunned.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
He is in a soon right now, all by hisself.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
I gotta go quick.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
Curry off the screen, got in up room again. Butter
Steph Curry, it's eleven three of the night.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Curry was a perfect seven of seven from three in
the second half of this game. His running mates were
still finding themselves. Rookie Draymond Green and second year backcourt
made Klay Thompson combined for ten points in this game,
with Clay missing all six of his three. His time
to shine as a splash brother was still to come.
But on this night in New York, Curry couldn't have
(39:02):
found a better place to let the world know he
requires everyone's attention. The following season, Mark Jackson would already
declare Steph and Clay the best shooting backboard in the
history of the league.
Speaker 10 (39:16):
But we got guys that can knock down shots. When
you talk about you know, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry,
in my opinion, that the greatest shooting backcourt in the.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
History of the game, a statement that seems perfectly obvious today,
was looked at as premature braggadocio from a relatively noviist
head coach at the time. That didn't stop Jackson, a
friend and eventual partner of Breens in the television booth,
from regularly letting folks know just how much potential this
pairing had.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
Mark made sure it was on your radar.
Speaker 14 (39:46):
One of Mark's strengths is his ability to instill confidence
in whoever's around them, whether he's a teammate, whether he's
a coach, whether he's a fellow broadcaster. And the way
he talked about this team and their potential and how
good they could be. You know where we thought he was,
all right, you're going a little over the top of here,
(40:07):
these guys are going to be good, but let's take
it easy. But right from the start, he saw what
the potential was in that team and those players. So
you had to listen to him and believe him because
obviously he knew what he was talking about.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
The organic, esthetically pleasing Warriors. Assent seemed to be on
a solid path, but the Golden State front office made
one more decision they felt could accelerate the timeline to
a championship. It would mean leaving a key figure behind.
It was one of those gambles that had to work out,
but no one was certain.
Speaker 8 (40:42):
It would.
Speaker 15 (40:51):
Look. I was shocked at they made that decision because
it was a tough decision. I think as far as
the organization goes, you know, we just Warriors that I
mean the playoffs for so long, there's a little media
noise around that finally made the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Coming up on this podcast series that relives the incredible
Golden State run, we look back at the rise of
the Warriors, their massive impact on the game, and how
they plan to continue to succeed into the future. You
take me through the highs and lows, the championships and
challenges that forged the dub dynastas.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
Those are like the times in your career where you're like, wow,
I was just a part of something special. It was
definitely something to celebrate.
Speaker 15 (41:28):
Well, first off, dramon Nivat to develop into a voice.
He's always been a cloud, tell you what a king's buy.
And I think that's what makes him so great. Do
I think that constant negative attention on him compared to
the constant positive attention on Steph was a faculty?
Speaker 10 (41:45):
Sure.
Speaker 8 (41:46):
I mean he revolutionized the game and there's no doubt
about that.
Speaker 10 (41:50):
At one end of the steps going through his routine. At
the other end was Kevin's going through his routine, and
you know it's like we're watching Mozart and Box at the.
Speaker 8 (41:59):
Exact same time, composed music.
Speaker 10 (42:01):
It was stunning.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Dub Dynasty is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Dubb Dynasty as a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And it's over.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
The championship is back in the Bay for the first.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Time in forty years. There's the buzzer. There's a new
dynasty in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors champions once again,
back to back titles three and four years.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
The run is not done. The Golden State Warriors once
again are NBA champions.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yep, those are the Golden State Warriors, celebrating championships like
it's their birthright. You're probably wondering how they got in
this situation, no belk fine, but if I told you
it took forty years of frustration to reach those celebrations,
that a basketball crazed region now drunk off success, was
(00:54):
once a group of disillusioned diehards just hoping for any
kind of consistency, and that it took some of the
boldest decisions in the sports history to get you'd at
least be somewhat intrigued. Tossing the fact that the person
most responsible for this remarkable rewriting of a franchise's history
is the ultimate underdog with the mesmerizing ability and this
(01:17):
Warrior's run over the past decade is far more than
a record scratch moment. It's one of the most entertaining,
unexpected and extended runs we've ever seen. So maybe now
you're wondering how they got here. To tell the story
of these last ten transformative years, Let's go back much hurt,
all the way to the last time Golden State was
(01:38):
holding a Golden trophy. I'm Israel Gutierrez and this is
Doug Dynasty.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Oh, incredible story.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
It's the final damn ninety section five.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Oh, it's a sport, the most highable lawyer series.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I said, I don't believe what's happening when they came back.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Well today, I believe that the Golden State Warriors better
than any want to anticipate.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That familiar voice is that of longtime sports broadcaster Brent
Musburger calling an NBA finals. If that clip sounds like
the nineteen seventies, it's because it was the heart of
the decade May of nineteen seventy five to be exact.
And if the story of the plucky underdog Golden State
(02:39):
Warriors winning the NBA title behind finals MVP Rick Barry
doesn't ring a bell even for avid basketball fans, it's understandable.
The seventies were easily considered the worst decade for the NBA,
nestled in between the Celtics carrying the league in the
nineteen sixties and Magic Larry and Michael reviving the NBA
(02:59):
in the nineteen eighties, and this particular final series was
a great example of just how unserious the league was
back then. The Washington Bullets had home court advantage, but
were given an option to either start the series on
the road or play an odd one two two one
one format, which they chose, starting at home in Landover, Maryland,
(03:21):
then switching to the Bay Area for the next two games.
Why it's simple, really, The Warriors couldn't secure their usual
home Oakland Arena because of a scheduling conflict with Sesame
Street on ice. The Warriors eventually deferred to the Feathered
Bird and instead moved on over to the Cow Palace
(03:45):
in Daily City, near San Francisco for their home games
in the championship series. Despite playing a pair of games
in a bovine residence, the Warriors won all four finals contests,
and did so with Barry as the only player on
his team averaging more than thirty minutes a game. He
played four three a game, and the only player on
(04:05):
his team averaging more than twelve points, he put up
twenty nine and a half per game, giving the Warriors
their first NBA championship and the franchise's first title since
it won something called the Basketball Association of America Championship
in nineteen forty seven, while they were the Philadelphia Warriors.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Underdogs all the way like Warriors.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Championship in the forty years following that nineteen seventy five title,
Bay Area basketball was basically about having a good time,
but not for a very long time, no sustained excellence,
very few extended playoff runs, and a reputation is the
place where NBA careers go to stall out. Despite an
(04:55):
eager fan base that desperately wanted to make Oakland's Arena
the place to be on end given night. Set against
thatreary backdrop, any sort of sustained success would have been
extremely satisfying for fans that saw so many starts and
stops without any real hardware or banners to show for it.
That's why the current Warriors run. A rare, true active
(05:20):
dynasty that has lasted more than a decade has created
a real basketball nirvana, a state of perfect round ball happiness,
a golden state if you will, and.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
That'll do it. It's over. The Golden State. Warriors returned
to a familiar place. They're on top of the NBA
world the fourth title of eight years. The Dubbs dynasty
is still very much alive.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Since the twenty fourteen to fifteen NBA season, the Warriors,
nicknamed the Doves for those who prefer less syllables, have
been the best franchise in the league, winning four championships
and reaching six finals altogether. They've set the record for
most wins in a reg season. They featured the only
unanimous MVP in league history in the transformative Stephan Curry.
(06:10):
They completed arguably the greatest playoff run in NBA history
after adding Kevin Durant and entirely reinvented what it meant
to be a jump shooting team behind the leadership of
head coach Steve Kerr. They did it as the out
of nowhere lovable underdogs, as the big bully favorites, and
as the wily veterans who just knew how to win.
(06:31):
And they did it while transitioning out of Oakland and
into San Francisco becoming one of the glamour franchises in
the league, with the crown jewel of a home arena
and a growing international fan base. A dynasty like this,
the dubbed dynasty that is still active in looking to
add to the trophy case this season and beyond. It'll
(06:53):
do that for a franchise, and even though this magical
run isn't over, it's well worth revisiting this decade full
of unforgettable moments that redefined the Warrior's frand chests, starting
with the centerpiece of his wholetale Steph Curry, and how
his joining the Warriors in two thousand and nine would
change the NBA forever.
Speaker 7 (07:14):
With the seventh pick in the two thousand and nine
NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors select Stephen Curry from
Davidson College.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Before that, Warriors fans were a niche group. There were
the hardcore hoops fans in the Bay and not that
many else outside of it. My NBA origin story actually
begins there as a pre dynasty Warriors fan. I've been
based in South Florida my entire career, but as a
thirteen year old I discovered the run TMC Warriors featuring
(07:48):
the trio of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullen
during the nineteen ninety ninety one season, and I immediately
fell in love. They were nicknamed after the rap group
run Dms, and their fast paced style of play, coached
by offensive minded Hall of Fame Donnie Nelson, had me
eager to stay up past one am, often on the
East Coast to catch their games on TNT, much to
(08:11):
my mother's chagrin.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
Hard Way against Scott.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
They cleared the side it comes.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
The crossovery blows by Please twenty six were hard Away,
It's tip, Golden State intercepts the pass and the Warners
have won this game, the first Golden State playoff win
at the Forum since nineteen sixty.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
That team was one of those handful of exciting but
short lived teams dotting the Warriors history during that forty
year gap between championships, and you'll hear a little more
about all of them later in the pot. By the
time the two thousand and eight two thousand and nine
season ended nearly twenty nine years later, Golden State had
produced a few more versions of exciting, often surprising teams,
(09:00):
but was at the moment two years removed from any
playoff appearances, although as a quick side note, it's absolutely
wild the Warriors didn't make the two thousand and eight
playoffs despite forty seven wins. Every single team in the
Western Conference playoffs that season won at least fifty games,
meanwhile only three in the East Wage. In the eight
(09:20):
to nine season, the Warriors missed the playoffs more traditional,
winning only twenty nine games and setting themselves up for
an NBA draft that would unknowingly change so much about basketball.
That may, the Warriors moved on from Chris Mullen as
the executive vice president's basketball operations, Yes that's same Chris Mullen,
(09:41):
and pivoted to a man named Larry Riley as their
general manager. Despite the switch, Mullen had already done his
homework on the two thousand and nine draft class, much
like his successor would eventually share. Mullen and his staff
had developed an affinity for a scrawny six foot two
point guard with insane scoring ability from a small school
(10:01):
called Davidson College in North Carolin. His official name Wardell
Stephen Curry the second Yeah you'd go by step too.
After the break the draft night drama that changed the
NBA forever. Don Nelson was once again the Warriors head
(10:36):
coach after leaving between nineteen ninety five and two thousand
and five to coach the Nixon Mavericks, and he also
liked the idea of a guard who could put it
in the hole from anywhere on the floor. Regardless of
what the NBA norms were at the time about the
only certainty heading into this draft was that high flying
power forward Blake Griffin out of Oklahoma would be the
(10:56):
number one pick. After that, the only other certainty was
that one future MVP, James Harden, would drafted pretty high.
Even with Curry, a future two time MVP, there was
no sure thing. And that's despite this fact his father
was Dell Curry, a deadly shooter of his own who
played for five teams over a sixteen year career and
(11:17):
shot forty percent from three point range during it. But Mullen,
an NBA Hall of Famer, had a strong feeling about
the junior from Davidson, comparing him to another two time MVP.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
We had done all prep work before I left that position.
One of the minority governors who's not hearing much, showed
me the notes we had Blake number one. We had
Steph two. So we had watched Steph extensively, and Nelly
and I both felt and this was probably maybe a
(11:50):
long shot. At that time, he would be Steve Nash.
You know, that was you know for that was Steve Nash,
two time MVP. That's not you know, underestimating a player.
Obviously Steve has gone past that, but that's kind of
what we saw Steph because he could play on the ball,
he could play off the ball, he had a quick release.
I remember going to watch him at the Garden. Davidson
(12:12):
played West Virginia, which is a really physical defensive team.
Usually when I go to those games, I try to
watch the entire game and not focus on one player,
but I found myself I couldn't take my eyes off
because he was so active off the basketball, which is
really for a young player different most of those players
growing up. They do things with the ball right, dynamic
(12:34):
ball handlers, and when they give it up, they stand.
That's what caught my eye about him. I was like, Wow,
this guy's got that field.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
But it wasn't up to Mullen to make this choice anymore.
This would be a decision headed by former Warriors general
manager Larry Riley, in Indiana native who'd spent his whole
life in basketball, starting his career as an assistant coach
at Southwest Missouri State in nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Yeah, how many times I saw him play, It wasn't
a whole lot. There were criticisms about him that come
about with people who analyze players. Scouts, Okay, he's a
two guard, he's too small, he's weak, he's not a
(13:23):
point guard. The defining moment for me with Steph Kurky
was it was in December, about mid December. Davidson had
scheduled the game with Purdue in Indianapolis, and that was
before the hand checking stuff. You know, Purdue thought they
(13:45):
were playing football, and I knew it would be a
tough thing, and I knew they'd beat him up, and
I wanted to see how he handled the physical play
because that was a question with scouts. Never mind was asking, well,
he's pretty friendly. He looked like he was fourteen years old.
And the second thing was I got a break at
(14:05):
that game for one reason or another, and that may
have been injured to the point guard. That he played
the point in that game a good win, and that
game defined to me that Steph Curry was a guy
who could play in the NBA. And frankly, that was
(14:26):
the last game that I saw him play live because
we had all the video and so I was satisfied
in middle or late December because in that game, he
showed the point guard's feels. He made a long pass,
he made the short pass, and he took the beating
that went along with it. Now they lost the game.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, I was going to say, can I give you
his stat line too? Do you remember that I.
Speaker 8 (14:52):
Think he was I think he was only six for
six for eighteen. It raised in my mind that he
only made about a thirty of its shots.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It was worse than that. He was five of twenty six.
He was two for twelve from three and he had
six turnovers. But he had six assists in three steals
and eight rebounds.
Speaker 8 (15:11):
Well see, and that's what I'm talking about. He produced
on the other levels. I wasn't worried about the shot.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
No one was. Curry's shot is what made him such
an intriguing must watch talent, to the point that Lebron
James famously stopped by to watch one of his NCAA
tournament games in person. It was that drawing tower and
his big game performances that made Steph a certain lottery
pick in the draft, meaning he'd go in the top fourteen.
How high did the rest of the lottery have Curry rated?
(15:43):
Would he ever reach the Warriors at number seven, especially
with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in need of a point
guard choosing twice directly before the Warriors.
Speaker 8 (15:52):
I didn't think he'd be available when we were picking.
In fact, I thought he was going to be gone,
to the extent that we explored trade possibilities for that pick,
and those explorations were based on the fact that Seth
current may not be there. Now Steph was going to
be there. Okay, we know we're going to draft you.
(16:14):
My concern was he's gone, and I have to take
the next guy, Frank White, who I didn't like.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That next guy was Jordan Jordan Hill, that is who
the Knicks drafted immediately after Curry at number eight and
averaged double figures scoring once in his eight year career.
Not sure what kind of podcast would have been birthed
if Hill had been the Warriors pick, but thanks to
the Minnesota draft evaluators at the time, we'll never find
that out. That's because the Wolves drafted two point guards
(16:44):
with the fifth and six picks, Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio
and Syracuse sophomore Johnny Flint. Riley had received a hot
tip that the Wolves would do just that after acquiring
the fifth pick from Washington via trade, but it still
left him nervous.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
I got a call the day before from a source
that told me, Okay, Minnesota's going to do this. Well,
I hardly slept that I could. I just I could
not believe that it was really going to happen. But
from time to time you get sources that you really
(17:21):
believe it. This was one that I said, this guy's
probably right, It's probably going to happen, and I just
I was we couldn't wait until they started picking, and
they actually did.
Speaker 7 (17:37):
With the fifth pick in the two thousand and nine
NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select Ricky Rubio of El Masno,
Spain and Juventu. With the sixth pick in the NBA Draft,
the Minnesota Timberwolves select Johnny Flynn from Syracuse University.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
That left the door open for the Warrior years to
choose Kerk, but as it turns out, it wasn't just
the Timberwolves that Riley and the Warriors should have concerned
themselves with. There was a certain general manager out in Phoenix,
a shooter in his own right, who'd had his eye
with Curry as well. Steve Kerr had been the general
manager of the Suns for two seasons at that point.
(18:23):
He traded for Shaquille O'Neil, acquiring him from Miami his
first season on the job. But Kerr had such faith
in Curry he was willing to trade Phoenix's leading scorer
at the time for a chance to draft the Sun
of Dell. He too saw step as a Steve nashclone
and wanted him in the Valley of the Sun.
Speaker 10 (18:42):
I thought we had a deal, a draft, a deal
to end up, you know, getting him to Phoenix. But
it fell through, and it involved in Amars Stademar, because
I think Amari was you know, still playing at a
high level, and so the Warriors were very in him.
(19:04):
And I don't remember the exact details of the deal,
but we looked at Steph as the next Steve Dash
and you know, we had been watching Steve for all
those years and felt like Steph shared so many of
the same qualities and could be so captivating for our fans,
and just the skill level was just incredible. So I
(19:27):
think the small stature didn't really bother us since we
had watched Steve dominate the league, you know, from a
similar place. So yeah, we were really interested and we
tried hard.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Hang tight, Steve, You'll eventually get your chance to have
Steph on your roster. There was one last hurdle of
sorts for the Warriors to clear before Larry Riley could
officially pull the trigger on drafting Steph. Del Curry's entire
existence playing in the NBA was within that Warrior's title draft,
and he didn't want his son and all his potential
(20:00):
to end up in that wasteland that was Base Area
Professional Hoops. Dell and STEP's agent at the time, Jeff Austin,
informed Riley he prefer the Warriors not to draft Steph.
Steph didn't weigh much, maybe one hundred and eighty pounds
entering the league, but he would attempt to throw that
way around.
Speaker 8 (20:19):
They made it obvious that they did not want him
to come to Golden State. If I was a father,
I wouldn't wanted it either. This is a bad team.
What are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
You know?
Speaker 8 (20:35):
And so I never blamed. And in addition to that,
they did not allow Steph to visit the Golden State
Warriors pre draft, and I did tell Jeff Austin, if
Steph's available, we will pick in spite of that, and
(20:56):
we did.
Speaker 7 (20:57):
With the seventh pick in the two thousand and nine
NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors select Stephen Curry from
Davidson College.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
That booing you heard was the sound of prescient Knicks
fans in the garden that night, already upset they wouldn't
get their chance to draft Curry with the next pick.
Speaker 8 (21:20):
Once that happened, there were never any issues. The Curry family,
Nel Curry and Sonia came. When we introduced Steph, Jeff
Austin came, there was never any issue, and I remember
introducing him and he still looked hocking with fourteen year
(21:41):
old kid.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
It took a full regular season not for Curry to
look any older. He was still the clean shaven, scrawny,
baby faced point guard by the time the regular season
reached its final game. It took a full regular season
for the man who drafted Steph to officially realize he'd
made the correct decision.
Speaker 8 (21:59):
I don't recall a lot of than said that. There
are things that people asked me about that I don't
remember that. But there was a point in his rookie
year we were playing in Portland Park and Steph just
put on a tournamendous shot.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
You know, Curry's like Steve Nash high basketball IQ.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
So he's going to be an all start for years
to come.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Curry step back of a pedagraph.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
He's got another one three point lead again for the Lawyers,
and now we're down there.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
We're a minute forty five left, new career high for
Steph Curry.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Steph finished his first season with a final game stat
line up forty two points, eight assists, nine rebounds, two steals,
one block shot, and a win in what was a
meaningless game to the standings or playoff implications.
Speaker 8 (22:56):
I recall setting in Portland watching him play that game,
and after that game say, okay, we have got our
point guard for the next sten years.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Riley underestimated just how long Curry would run the court
in the Bay. We're currently at sixteen years and counting.
But before that incredible run could even start, there were
a couple of upgrades necessary to create the foundation of
this stable dynasty. One was the ownership group running the team.
The other was a right ankle Curry was running on
(23:29):
when Steph first joined the league. Neither was stable. Chris
Cohan was the Warrior's owner and was often the target
of the ire of Golden State fans, even though most
of the decisions considered problematic under his watch weren't exactly
all his alone. I mean, can you really blame a
team's owner for not drafting Kobe Bryant. But there was
(23:51):
enough failure in those sixteen years that Cohan faced the
brunt of the criticism. When Joe Lagub, a minority owner
of the Boston Celtics at the time, and Peter Gouber,
Mandalay Entertainment CEO, bought the team from Cohen and the
summ of twenty ten, they viewed the franchise not as
one experiencing a decades long championship drought, but one that
had limitless potential if treated properly.
Speaker 9 (24:13):
An opening night out of our ownership, I was introduced.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Lads shut off, head show, Lake up, and Peter.
Speaker 9 (24:21):
Cuber getting ready to take the mic. Nineteen thousand people there.
I didn't really know what I was going to say
it didn't plant it in advance, and I saw the
banner up there and I just pointed, if you look
up there, that is a very lonely flat.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
We want another one.
Speaker 9 (24:40):
I told everybody what I thought was from a heart,
which is, these are the greatest fans in the world,
and you deserve more.
Speaker 11 (24:46):
My new pairgrap color is blue and yellow, and my
favorite letter is W. Lots of w's go get Amorials.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
By the time the Warriors hired Rick Wells in twenty
eleven as their chief operating officer, the vision to improve
the franchise was well underway. Welts had been the president
of the Phoenix Suns. It says he shared the vision
of Lake Op and Goober when it came to Golden State.
Speaker 12 (25:14):
I think everybody who was an observer of the Warriors
over the twenty years before I got there, you would
look at that team and just go, oh, my God, like,
if you could ever get this in the right ownership
and management hands, this shouldn't stand toe to toe with
any franchise in sports. I mean, the place in which
we lived was an amazing place to live. The corporate
(25:34):
base there or the companies that were changing the face
of the world.
Speaker 10 (25:38):
You could be a.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
Part of that fan support for a team that never
made the playoffs, and it was you know, we all
looked at it and just said, oh my gosh. And
then I remember I was president of the Phoenix Suns.
I remember when Joelka and Peter Guber bought the team.
And what really made an impression upon me was their
first real higher When I read the Jerry West, I've let, Okay,
(26:02):
maybe these guys are taking a look at it a
little differently than has historically been the case. But I
was like, you know where, after half an hour of
talking to him, it was like, where do I sign?
They had big aspirations. They had this crazy notion of
perhaps building an arena in San Francisco they talked to
me about then. So for me, it was like I
(26:23):
was so drawn to the opportunity just because I knew
it had success written all over it. I grew up
learning from Jerry Clangelo that the best way to have
NBA organization be successful is to have your business people
and your basketball people aligned on the goals and in
constant communication about how we're going to get there. And
you know, for me, this came to light in Phoenix. Really,
(26:46):
Steve Kerr was our general manager and I would have
a weekly staff meeting on Wednesdays, and Steve came into
my office one day and said, can I come to
your weekly staff meetings?
Speaker 8 (26:56):
Like what?
Speaker 12 (26:57):
Like, Yeah, I think people would enjoy it if you
came to our weekly staff meetings.
Speaker 13 (27:01):
But what was about was not about you know, tell
us how Steve Nash's risk is feeling. It was about, Hey,
we're thinking about next season and you know, we're thinking
of using these players in our campaign. And this is
kind of the theme like what are we missing? What
would the reaction from locker room be to that? What
would what would how would.
Speaker 12 (27:21):
The players feel about that? And that's how Joe and
Peter wanted the organization to be. And there's you can
be successful and not do that. It's possible to do.
But I think to get the most out of the
organization that's the single most important thing.
Speaker 13 (27:33):
And that that to me, really resonated. I think it
was the most important part of our conversation.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
The ownership transition included a coaching change after Don Nelson
ended his second stint with the Warriors in twenty ten.
That meant promoting Keith Smart, who lasted just one season
as head coach, and then hiring former point guard Mark Jackson,
who played over one four hundred games, including the playoffs,
but had never coached a single game. It included a
(28:04):
lot of turnover at all levels of the organization, but
the most problematic turnover was happening on the court, as
in Curry turning his ankle over and over and over again.
Did Verry Neil dribble it off his legs?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Oh my goodness, Steph Curry ankle coming out of the pack.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Oh this is It's just heartbreaking, is all I can say.
Curry would suffer multiple ankle injuries within his first few seasons,
some of them so confounding even his teammates wondered how
long he'd be effective in the league if his right
ankle kept proving to be his actual achilles heel.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Steph is hurt.
Speaker 9 (28:48):
Steph Curry is hurt, saying I will he went straight
down and never moved.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Oh man, he's in a lot of pain.
Speaker 6 (28:57):
Let's see if he steps on someone's foot, Yep, there
it is same foot, yep, Griffin, and he turned that
ankle to same He turned it in San Diego.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Against the David Lee, a teammate of Curry's for five seasons,
saw the frustration's first hand.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
I think the most interesting part about that is whether
it's his jump shot or it's his ankle. Steph never
seemed to waiver on his confidence about his ankle and
his injuries.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
And yeah, he had that one ankle he.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
Kept rolling over and over and you're like, Okay, I
tried something new, and I think I'm good this time.
We'd be in a preseason game. I remember against the
Lakers one time, and it's in the fourth quarter and
it was an absolute you know, not stepping on somebody,
just a simple movement and a completely side of his
ankle touched the ground and you can see the frustration,
but at the same time he just he's like, no, no,
I'm going to get this figured out, and I have
(29:44):
faith that this is going to work out. And I
think he tried like six hundred different kinds of ankle
braces and taping techniques and every which way, and finally
he found something that worked and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
It wasn't just the correct brace or the proper taping
technique that allowed for history to be written It included
a lot of tension because Curry being advised that he
would need an ankle surgery that could include using a
tendon from a cadaver. A doctor Richard Ferkel would be
in charge of repairing Curry's ankle, but not for a
(30:15):
lot of fretting from Steph's father. Dell was no longer
advising an unknown Riley not to draft Curry. He was
now trusting Riley, a known team confidant, to offer advice
about his son's ankle.
Speaker 8 (30:29):
Dell Curry called me. He said, Larry, do you think
he needs surgery though? And I said, yes, he does,
because he's worked, he said on everything. I took him
to Portland to the Niking factory to where we thought
they might be able to build a shoe that would
help statelevise the ankle. On great effort, but it still
(30:52):
wasn't right. I never saw him get down to the
point where he was chattered or thinking it's own. It
may have happened, but never saw it, and I member
since that I felt like I was more worried about it.
Maybe he was at times, but his dad since state urgency.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
But Riley joined the Curry family, including Steph's new wife,
Aisha in the surgical center while Steph was going under
the knife. What doctor Furkle found when he began the
procedure was that there would be no cadaver ligament necessary.
What he discovered was effectively all Steph needed was a
good cleaning out of the oft injured ankle. From Pablo
(31:37):
Torri's twenty thirteen feature in ESPN, the magazine on this subject,
a one ounce HD camera snaked into Curry's subterler and
ankle joints produced images of thick, sticky bands of scar
tissue like crab meat, Furkle says, as well as in
flame tissue, bone spurs, and chips of cartilage. To anyone else,
(32:00):
orthopedic seafood might be revolting. To Curry, it was good news.
Tory's story explained why it was good news. A motorized
device could remove all of that from Curry's ankle in
less than two hours, and it would shorten his expected
recovery time significantly, and by July twenty twelve, after a
(32:21):
season in which he played only twenty six games, Curry
was once again rehabbing his ankle, but this time with
much more faith that the flukiness had also been removed
the season following his ankle procedure was something of a
reintroduction for Curry. While Lebron James and the Miami Heat
were stealing the oxygen from everyone in the league, Steph
(32:42):
was quite literally finding his legs again. He missed only
four regular season games. He damn near doubled his three
point attempts per game while maintaining a forty five percent
shooting clip. Andy had one particular game that, even though
it came in his sports season, was his unofficial coming
out performance. It was February twenty seven, twenty thirteen, in
(33:03):
New York City's Madison Square Guarden, a building Mike Breen
knows so well because he grew up in it and
has called Knicks games inside and out of MSG since
nineteen ninety one as a radio announcer and since nineteen
ninety seven as a television play by play announcer for Wfan.
Who better to describe the magic of MSG than break Well.
Speaker 14 (33:27):
I don't think I'm the most objective person because I
grew up in New York and Madison Square Garden was
the building I went to as a kid, and I
always felt it just had a special aura, but it
just there's a certain sound with that ceiling that they
have there and the stage lighting where it's just like
there's these performers that are on stage and you know,
(33:51):
not a rough and tumble crowd, but a crowd that
doesn't suffer fools. It was just the perfect atmosphere for
a big event.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
On this evening, Curry would have nearly the perfect night
in that perfect atmosphere. Mark Jones and Doris Burke were
there to witness it, calling the game for ESPN.
Speaker 10 (34:15):
Curry with a floater, got it to go.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Tell you what, For a guy who a lot of
people questioned that six three, one hundred and eighty five
pounds could he be effective.
Speaker 14 (34:23):
In the league, he has put those concerns to rest.
Speaker 8 (34:27):
Well.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Andreant to double Coury with a quick trigger.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Cat the three ball.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
You know he does shoot forty five from downtown on
the season. Curry with another jumper and it's a one
point game.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Just you know, he plays with a pace of a
guy who's an old man in the league.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Right, he's still pretty young.
Speaker 8 (34:50):
You don't meet Stephen Curry.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Out He's gonna go with his pace.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
Still the second best shooter in his family, though, I
say yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
But I make a better I agreed.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
Del I'm talking about his brother Secan.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
No, Dell probably will go down as the best families.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
What Dell couldn't do what Stephan does. Curry for the lead,
got it? Steph Curry smooth. He scored the last fifteen
in a row for Golden Set.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
After the break, Steph Curry makes his first major splash
in the NBA.
Speaker 14 (35:31):
I always found in extraordinary when a team comes to
a road arena and a player on that road team
has the ability to kind of capture the hearts of
the fans that are rooting against him and his team.
But it happens when certain arenas a player goes into
and fans just can see greatness or potential for greatness.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
And that night, that's what they saw.
Speaker 14 (35:51):
We all knew that he was he had a chance
to be special, and for him to have that type
of a game that it was so close and they
wind up losing, it made for like the perfect deepening
for the big fans of the Garden because they saw
this maybe the first instance of the greatness of Steph Curry.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
In the second half, Curry, who had an abbreviated version
of the Bible, First Philippians four thirteen, written on his sneakers,
reading I can do all things. Was doing one thing
particularly well. He was scoring with regularity, despite constant double
teams and adding attention from the mixed defense.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
What's the pick and roll of it?
Speaker 8 (36:36):
Take it out of Curry's hands?
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Football, take and the same result we've seen for the
first two periods. You see what I mean? So now
you make the adjustment.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
You're trying to trap and make somebody else beat him.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
But Stephan relok kates after getting out of the trap,
and again like, doesn't you play like an old guy?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Like the pacing and.
Speaker 8 (36:53):
Not getting rattled.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
By the first few minutes of the second half, it
was apparent you were watching one of those memorable performances
you get just a handful of times in an NBA season.
You could hear it in the voices of Jones and Burn,
but if you listen close to enoughs, you also hear
it in the reaction of the fans, the groans and
even a few cheers. As Mike Green predicted, We're getting
(37:20):
louder with every maid Curry bucket.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
The Warriors are connected on fourteen of their AD sixteen.
Make that fifteen of seventeen.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
He's cooking with some hot grease.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Right now, Steph Curry has thirty three put against belc
for three?
Speaker 8 (37:41):
Got it?
Speaker 5 (37:42):
What a night for Steph Curry?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Did you hear them? We've seen that movie before.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
Steph Curry with another three? If he walks back said
to say, I am a bad man, but you got
nothing for me tonight?
Speaker 8 (37:58):
Looking how upset my fortune is?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
How about now Curry for three?
Speaker 8 (38:03):
Who unbelievable?
Speaker 5 (38:06):
Making it rain in New York forty six?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Back in the way, Curry?
Speaker 7 (38:11):
Why not for three?
Speaker 4 (38:13):
Big go? And the next crowd is stunned.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
He is in a soon right now, all by hisself.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
I gotta go quick.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
Curry off the screen, got in up room again. Butter
Steph Curry, it's eleven three of the night.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Curry was a perfect seven of seven from three in
the second half of this game. His running mates were
still finding themselves. Rookie Draymond Green and second year backcourt
made Klay Thompson combined for ten points in this game,
with Clay missing all six of his three. His time
to shine as a splash brother was still to come.
But on this night in New York, Curry couldn't have
(39:02):
found a better place to let the world know he
requires everyone's attention. The following season, Mark Jackson would already
declare Steph and Clay the best shooting backboard in the
history of the league.
Speaker 10 (39:16):
But we got guys that can knock down shots. When
you talk about you know, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry,
in my opinion, that the greatest shooting backcourt in the.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
History of the game, a statement that seems perfectly obvious today,
was looked at as premature braggadocio from a relatively noviist
head coach at the time. That didn't stop Jackson, a
friend and eventual partner of Breens in the television booth,
from regularly letting folks know just how much potential this
pairing had.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
Mark made sure it was on your radar.
Speaker 14 (39:46):
One of Mark's strengths is his ability to instill confidence
in whoever's around them, whether he's a teammate, whether he's
a coach, whether he's a fellow broadcaster. And the way
he talked about this team and their potential and how
good they could be. You know where we thought he was,
all right, you're going a little over the top of here,
(40:07):
these guys are going to be good, but let's take
it easy. But right from the start, he saw what
the potential was in that team and those players. So
you had to listen to him and believe him because
obviously he knew what he was talking about.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
The organic, esthetically pleasing Warriors. Assent seemed to be on
a solid path, but the Golden State front office made
one more decision they felt could accelerate the timeline to
a championship. It would mean leaving a key figure behind.
It was one of those gambles that had to work out,
but no one was certain.
Speaker 8 (40:42):
It would.
Speaker 15 (40:51):
Look. I was shocked at they made that decision because
it was a tough decision. I think as far as
the organization goes, you know, we just Warriors that I
mean the playoffs for so long, there's a little media
noise around that finally made the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Coming up on this podcast series that relives the incredible
Golden State run, we look back at the rise of
the Warriors, their massive impact on the game, and how
they plan to continue to succeed into the future. You
take me through the highs and lows, the championships and
challenges that forged the dub dynastas.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
Those are like the times in your career where you're like, wow,
I was just a part of something special. It was
definitely something to celebrate.
Speaker 15 (41:28):
Well, first off, dramon Nivat to develop into a voice.
He's always been a cloud, tell you what a king's buy.
And I think that's what makes him so great. Do
I think that constant negative attention on him compared to
the constant positive attention on Steph was a faculty?
Speaker 10 (41:45):
Sure.
Speaker 8 (41:46):
I mean he revolutionized the game and there's no doubt
about that.
Speaker 10 (41:50):
At one end of the steps going through his routine. At
the other end was Kevin's going through his routine, and
you know it's like we're watching Mozart and Box at the.
Speaker 8 (41:59):
Exact same time, composed music.
Speaker 10 (42:01):
It was stunning.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Dub Dynasty is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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