In what has gone down as one of the better classes in NBA history, two transformative guards were picked in the top 10 of the 2009 draft.
The Oklahoma City Thunder selected James Harden at No. 3 and the Golden State Warriors took Steph Curry at No. 7.
In Bill Simmons’ and Zach Lowe’s redraft of 2009, those two are at the top.
Simmons had the first pick.
“It’s not a tough decision: It’s Stephen Curry,” Simmons said. “I get somebody who was a back-to-back MVP, I get somebody who’s made three (All-NBA) First Teams, two Second Teams and a Third Team. I get the greatest shooter of all time. I get someone who is basically a 50-40-90 guy for his entire career, who has a chance for 25,000 points and 4,000 made 3s.”
It’s more than just Curry’s numbers and the way he’s changed the game: Simmons also said Curry is a culture-setter in the mold of former San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan.
“There’s been a handful of guys in the history of the league that you could just build your team around and it was going to be OK,” Simmons said. “He’s this generation’s Duncan, where it’s like the best possible teammate.”
Lowe agreed Curry should be No. 1, but it wasn’t so cut-and-dry.
He thinks Harden would have a legitimate case because of his proven ability to lift the floor of any team.
“Here’s the argument for Harden: As the bigger, stronger, more accomplished one-on-one player, he is a little bit less dependent on his teammates to be the No. 1 option of an elite NBA offense,” Lowe said. “He is teammate independent. You stick James Harden at the top of the arc with nobody near him except his defender, and you have a top 5 offense in the NBA right away…
“Harden’s numbers are now more prolific because he’s played more minutes … Harden is probably a little better than Steph at raising the floor of your team, but Steph, because of his shooting and his willingness to play off the ball, is a better mesh with one to two to three other really good NBA players.”
Harden, meanwhile, “diminishes the value a little bit of another star,” Lowe said.
That’s a large piece that swayed his opinion toward Curry.
“If you’re trying to build a championship, you probably want the ceiling raiser guy a little bit more than the floor raiser,” Lowe said.
Simmons pointed out, though, that Curry has historically been the focal point of teams that would not have been legendary without him.
From 2015-2017, with only one year of Kevin Durant as a teammate, the Warriors went 207-39 in the regular season. Curry’s teammates were very good, obviously, but Klay Thompson and Draymond Green don’t make up as dominant a big three as some other teams in NBA lore.
“It’s not like that team was like the ’85-’86 Celtics,” Simmons said.
He argued that it was more than just Curry making a good team better. Lowe didn’t dispute that.
“I think you might be right. Even if you look at the Finals last year … it’s like Steph and Andre (Iguodala) who can’t and won’t shoot, and Kevon Looney and just dudes who are not good in the NBA other than Andre … They’re kind of hanging in games because their entire offense is Steph just runs around and draws 3 people,” Lowe said.
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