Stephen Curry is well aware of a different and more nuanced challenge to compete in the Western Conference this season. Now that Kevin Durant has departed and Klay Thompson is on the shelf for the better part of the season, the Golden State Warriors will need every minute he's on the floor to have a chance to win games.
Via Drew Shiller of NBC Sports Bay Area:
“In years past, maybe I have an inefficient game — don't shoot the ball well, get a couple assists or whatever — we may still win that game because we have experience and talent and whatnot,” Curry told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami on The TK Show podcast. “This year, if I — for lack of a better term — s**t the bed, it's gonna be really hard for us to win games.
“So I accept that challenge for sure and understand what kind of player I need to be.”
Some have argued that with very little help around him, Curry is bound for another run at an MVP award, given the sheer amount of offense he'll be tasked with generating until Thompson returns from an ACL injury. But the 31-year-old is simply focusing on playing well and having an impact rather than having an MVP-type season:
“I never put that much pressure on myself to say, ‘I gotta be MVP' because I know that's kind of out of your control,” the six-time All-Star said. “I always look at myself when I walk off the floor and say, ‘Did I play well?'
“It sounds cliche but that's literally how I approach [each game]. Definitely understand if I'm playing the way I'm supposed to play and we're winning games, that I should be in that conversation. That's what I hope for and I'm doing everything in my power to make it happen.”
That approach might result in more shot attempts, more risky plays, and more assertiveness from the Warriors' franchise player, something he has realized from the onset in this recent preseason:
“Might mean I need to take more shots or kind of force the issue a little bit if things kind of get stagnant for us as a team,” Curry added. “It's not like I'm playing with any more intensity now than I would have in past years, it just might look a little different.”
The Warriors will need some offensive punch from D'Angelo Russell as well as Draymond Green, but Curry's success will ultimately be based on how the new role players jell and allow him to create openings as well as burying shots to give him some reasonable help on the scoring end.
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