Larry Riley would've picked Blake Griffin over Steph Curry if they had No. 1 pick in 2009

Larry Riley said he admits that if he had possessed the #1 overall draft pick during the lucrative 2009 draft class, he would have picked up Griffin.

Amazingly enough, there could have been a timeline where Blake Griffin played for a different California team had he been picked by the 2009 Golden State Warriors organization. Larry Riley, general manager at the time, said he admits that if he had possessed the #1 overall draft pick during the lucrative 2009 draft class, he would have picked up Griffin.

“Had we had the No. 1 pick, we would have screwed up and missed on Steph Curry because we would have taken Blake Griffin,” Riley told NBA.com. “I did, however, at the press conference when we brought Steph Curry in and introduced him, I did stand up, and Raymond (Ridder, the team vice president of communication) probably got it on record. I said, “I think Steph Curry’s the second-best player in the Draft and I would have picked him No. 2 and Steph Curry will set out to prove me wrong, that he should have been No. 1.”

Nowadays, it would be a dream to pick up the likes of Steph Curry with the #7 overall draft pick, as that’s exactly what the 2009 Warriors did to secure the three-point wizard. Now a two-time regular season MVP, maybe teams with draft picks in the middle of the pack will be more inspired to believe there is plentiful talent and potential among many players in the NBA Draft.