WELCOME HOME, STEPHEN CURRY!
Two of the most unique talents in the CSL will no longer start on opposite sides of the court from one another. Amidst a flurry of trades, the New Orleans Pelicans emerged up one sharpshooting guard. Stephen Curry, at the age of 30 and having played nine seasons of professional basketball, now has a chance at a championship.
New Orleans currently sits atop the league with a record of 13-2. Historically, the CSL has not been kind to “dual-star” squads (or “no-star” squads for that matter). Any team that has won it all has done so with one primary, usage-dominating superstar. Only the future will tell if an even distribution of offensive workload can occur in New Orleans.Stephen Curry wrote:I’m thrilled, you know, very grateful. I appreciate that Golden State sent me somewhere competitive. Part of me will always be in the Bay Area, but I really feel like I’m going home. You know, I got a call from AD welcoming me to the Pels before I even knew I was traded, haha.
Only a handful of stars have seen their talents lead to a successful championship run: Paul George, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, James Harden and Kemba Walker.Anthony Davis wrote:Steph and I are going to set this league on fire. We’ve already talked about it, offensive sets, ball movement. We’re not playing at this. We have a championship team and we expect a championship.
This year, it would seem that Kevin Durant, Eric Bledsoe and Otto Porter have an early shot at adding their names to this list. Jabari Parker may have something to say about that as well.
Others seem to have all the world-beating talent necessary and, even still, have struggled to produce meaningful wins. It’s growing increasingly likely that King James will retire without a CSL crown. Low post talents Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins have not only proven they cannot play together, but that they don’t seem like a net positive to the combined 10 teams they have played for. You can add Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, John Wall, Kawhi Leonard and Damian Lillard to that list.
But you would have to add Stephen Curry as well.
Sun Scorched wrote:I’m not concerned at all. I think you have to be worried about usage when one of your stars is clearly more efficient offensively, but we’re talking about two top ten offensive players. Steph, specifically, is one of the best shooters in CSL history. I think the in/out game with Davis is going to be masterful. We already run a slow pace, so that our front court can establish position in the low post and so that our shooters can get set for shots, which tends to funnel shots to AD. Steph has underrated playmaking abilities and I think that with the ball in his hands, 80% of the shots will either be flowing through him or AD, which is exactly what we want. Additionally, I’ve wanted to reduce AD’s workload offensively, and this will also accomplish that.
Mike Woodson wrote:As a head coach, you’re usually drooling about getting to draw up plays for guys like AD and Steph, but I’m pretty excited about our defense, actually. Steph actually offers a pretty substantial upgrade defensively over certain previous lineups. Our starting lineup, led by AD and Steph, is finished out by Courtney [Lee], Trevor [Ariza] and Willie [Cauley-Stein]. That’s defense in a bottle, right there, along with some of the best shooting from distance in the league.
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