Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry acknowledged to ESPN analyst Doris Burke that he thinks he needs to be do a better job of keeping in touch with teammates during quarantine.
He thinks that if the team connects and sticks through the coronavirus, they’ll have a “prime opportunity” once basketball returns.
Curry and Durke were guests on the Jr. NBA Leadership Conference on Friday, during which they gave advice about basketball and life to young athletes.
During the conversation, Burke asked him how NBA players have stayed connected through the quarantine.
“It’s been hard, to be honest,” Curry said. “I’m so used to having that drive to the practice facility. The four to five, six hours that we’re at the gym. It’s just kind of natural conversation, and start to get to know people over time. You really can’t force that stuff. And so that’s kind of taken away.”
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Curry said the team tries to have video calls frequently to talk about their lives, not necessarily basketball, and to do workouts together twice a week.
But he thinks he hasn’t been as well as he needs.
“I haven’t been doing a great job of it,” Curry said, and added that he needs to check in on the younger players more often.
“I can’t imagine when I was a rookie, coming into this league and trying to figure everything out and you get hit with the postponement of the season.”
The bulk of this team is different since the last time they were in the playoffs. Curry called this a “bridge year,” implying that the Warriors expect to be better next season. But as they went from injuries and losses straight into social distancing and cancellation of the schedule, it’s going to be harder to do.
This year’s team leader in minutes played was rookie Eric Paschall. Not including players who were traded midseason, Damion Lee is second among Warriors, and he only had 410 minutes last year. Rookie Jordan Poole is third of those who remain on the team.
Last year’s top three were Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. Durant and Thompson, obviously, did not play a minute for the Warriors this season. Curry’s injury limited him to just five games.
“It’s not just about putting talent together, it’s about that chemistry,” Curry said.
Once Thompson and Curry are back in the mix, the point guard thinks the team can contend again.
It will just take a lot of hard work both on the court and regaining that chemistry they had over the years – even when they’re not able to physically be together.
Big picture, there’s a lot of things that are way more important than basketball,” Curry said.
“But when basketball does come back, we have a prime opportunity to reclaim where we were, and it’s gonna come with a lot of hard work and it’s going to look entirely different, but hopefully everybody’s buying into it and do whatever you can in this meantime to make sure you’re well mentally and physically.”
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