You see Shaq carrying the Heat with a big win against the top team in the East tonight. And then you see Curry complaining about who his team was missing against Boston and being pretty non existent the last 2 games. It was a perfect example of how soft his stats are. Tonight's win was all about Marbury and Q. Curry scored 22 points but disappeared down the stretch when the game was on the line.

I don't see any urgency or willingness on Curry's part to put this team on his shoulders and carry them to the playoffs. Curry is supposed to be our go to guy. That doesn't mean just the last few minutes of close games. That means whenever we need him, he should want the ball and demand it and carry them. I don't see the fire in him, I don't see the desire.

People get all worked up if Curry scores more points than Shaq as he works himself into shape. But in a must win game is there any doubt, even in the twilight of his career, that Shaq can and will put his team on his shoulders? I've never seen Curry do that.

Based on what we gave up to get him, how much they've blown his head up and how they're mistakenly planning on building around him, you would think that he would at least step it up against the bad teams like Boston and G.S. and Atlanta. So far he hasn't.

Does it bother anybody else that they're going to build around a complementary player? That's a recipe for failure. But what else is new.

curry is a pretty good player. he just isn't someone you build around. in fact I'd say that marbury is still the best player on this team.

Islesfan, you have to remember that Curry is really just starting to get it going. He's NOT SHAQ and we don't have to have him be at that level. This is gonna be about a team effort. Who cares if Curry is at present a franchise player on the same level as Shaq. He's still a HUGE cog in the this and thus i'd say he's on his way to being a franchise player.

You can't have Steph do what he does without someone like Curry to keep the defense honest. See they can't KEY on Steph like they used to when he didn't have a "franchise level" center. Now they can't just focus all their attention on Steph and that will make his job easier and vice versa for Curry. We all know that Wade/Shaq is better than Steph/Curry, but they're at least in the conversation. Parker/Duncan is another great inside out combo, McGrady/Yao another. I do think that we're better than Nelson/Howard tho. There's no shame in not being the absolute KING like Shaq.

So Curry isn't Shaq? okay.

Islesfan,

You have to creatively think of many excuses for Eddy. He's only in his sixth season. He's only 24 1/2 (about 1 year younger than the average NBA player). He's getting three full points more than in his contract year (in seven more min, on a team that will win ten fewer games). He's the perfect player to build around, especially if you have very few draft picks, overpaid players, no hope of cap room, and a GM whose best MLE signing was Jared Jeffries.

Bonn

I don't mind giving him time to improve but I've seen disappointing progress so far and I don't expect him to reach a point to justify giving up what we gave up. Usually the guys who show dramatic improvement are young players around 20-22 in their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd years. Each year after that, the odds of major improvement decrease. By the time you're almost average in NBA age and you've played 6 full seasons, your odds of significant improvement are pretty low. How many players didn't wait until year 7, age 25 (the year Eddy's supposed to rebound and play defense) to turn their games around? Then think of how many players there have been in the history of the NBA. Divide the first number by the second to get an objective probability level.

Posted by Bonn1997:

I don't mind giving him time to improve but I've seen disappointing progress so far and I don't expect him to reach a point to justify giving up what we gave up. Usually the guys who show dramatic improvement are young players around 20-22 in their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd years. Each year after that, the odds of major improvement decrease. By the time you're almost average in NBA age and you've played 6 full seasons, your odds of significant improvement are pretty low. How many players didn't wait until year 7, age 25 (the year Eddy's supposed to rebound and play defense) to turn their games around? Then think of how many players there have been in the history of the NBA. Divide the first number by the second to get an objective probability level.

So this season is the limit for eddy ? So you want Tyrus Thomas and this years draft in which everyone somehow thinks we might would have got Oden. Tell me about probablity again. Eddy came in from highschool, very few who come in from highschool make the incredible jump to superstar right away. Bottom line, Eddy becomes great if he improves his defense, avgs double digit boards and gets a block or 2, also improves his free throws. These are things he can improve on

Posted by bigbeast:

Curry isnt the type of player you build around, he's the type you build with.

Knock Curry for his rebounding or lack there of. Knock him for his defensive shortcommings but mentioning Shaq and Curry in the same sentence is anothet deseprate attempt to bash Curry again.

I don't understand the whole talk about not some one you build around. Why not ? Because he is not a super star/all-star (yet)
He is being groomed in that fashion and will gain that status in time. I don't get it, who then in this league do you build around. Please exclude the KGs, Duncans, Dirks, and Shaqs. Teams must build around their most consistent peace and we all know we are talking on offense here. You build around the guy who is going to get you 20pts and draw the doubles, etc.
There is no harm in building around this guy, can they win with him alone ? NO. Can he win with a co allstar like everyone else. he sure can. Most of the recent champions have at least two all stars.

curry still needs another big who can take pressure off of him down there. frye has banned himself from the paint so teams are just packing 3 guys around curry and letting frye shoot his 42% from mid range. unless he starts attacking the basket more they will just continue to double team curry.

also we had a guy who could consistently deliver the ball to curry with Crawford, (Q does a pretty good job too) but he's out now

Curry right now is probably a top ten center in this league, even with him being a poor defender. Assuming that he continues to improve, he can become a top-5 center in this league. He probably will not be a hall of fame player and might not even make an all-star game, but he should be a major piece for this team for the next 6-7 years. We now just need to bring in players that complement him.

In fact, if Lee and Balkman improve their outside shooting, I think we might already have the two guys to put next to Curry on the frontline. Both Lee and Balkman are above average rebounders and high energy guys who can pass. Balkman is a shot-blocker and above average defender. I think Lee will become a solid defender with more work. I can really see them working well with Curry if they can consistently make their jumpshots, which is what we will need to wait and see if that will happen.

Curry is not Shaq and never will be, but he can be about 85% of Shaq and that would still be good enough to be a top center in this league. That is all I expect him to be.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by Michael6835:

Posted by Bonn1997:

I don't mind giving him time to improve but I've seen disappointing progress so far and I don't expect him to reach a point to justify giving up what we gave up. Usually the guys who show dramatic improvement are young players around 20-22 in their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd years. Each year after that, the odds of major improvement decrease. By the time you're almost average in NBA age and you've played 6 full seasons, your odds of significant improvement are pretty low. How many players didn't wait until year 7, age 25 (the year Eddy's supposed to rebound and play defense) to turn their games around? Then think of how many players there have been in the history of the NBA. Divide the first number by the second to get an objective probability level.

So this season is the limit for eddy ? So you want Tyrus Thomas and this years draft in which everyone somehow thinks we might would have got Oden. Tell me about probablity again. Eddy came in from highschool, very few who come in from highschool make the incredible jump to superstar right away. Bottom line, Eddy becomes great if he improves his defense, avgs double digit boards and gets a block or 2, also improves his free throws. These are things he can improve on

I didn't say it was the limit. I said odds are there will be only minor improvement. Yes, I'd rather have Brandon Roy and this year's lottery pick and our early second round picks all for a total salary of about one fifth Eddy's. Or I'd rather have packaged Frye and last year's #2 pick for an unprotected pick this year, which I think could have been achieved after the year Frye came off of. Play the young guys this year, have a 30 win team, and have have two great shots at Oden and Durant while still having Lee and perhaps Marcus Williams or even Balkman. Then you're building with versatile, two-way players while beginning to work toward a reasonable team salary. But I guess having Eddy, Lee, and few other assets is superior to those alternatives anyway

Bonn, you crack me up. You are a total flip-flopper. Just 1 or 2 seasons ago you were all about everything the knicks did when the knicks were a REAL mess. Now this year, when there is obvious improvement you are the total opposite, like someone flipped a switch on you. I love all the negativity, which is a huge turnaround, keep it up!