Stephen Curry

Coming in to the draft, I'd heard about Stephen Curry. He was described as the "best shooter" in the draft and that's probably when I started to take a bit more interest in him. I've mentioned it before but a good basketball shooting tip is to watch great shooters in action, success leaves clues.

As I don't get to watch college basketball (although with One HD now I will be able to next season) and I tend to follow the NBA from a fantasy basketball perspective, I don't usually take too much interest in rookies until they have proved themselves in the big show. I didn't even realise until last week that Stephen is the son of former NBA great Dell Curry.

As mentioned last week, I was able to watch the NBA draft for the first time and heard the angry NY crowd go nuts as Curry was drafted by the Warriors, who got to pick before the hometown Knicks. I heard Dickey Vitale numerous times throughout the coverage shower praise on Stephen and say that the team's who didn't draft him were crazy and that he would definitely win Rookie of the Year.

So today, with the phone not ringing in the office, I decided to do some more research in to Stephen Curry.

Firstly, here's an excerpt from a great article by the crew at Dime (click on the title to read the full story):

Stephen Curry: Lethal Weapon | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

“Nothing about my success here over the last three years has changed me at all, because I live in the moment,” says Curry. “I’m not worried about what’s going to come next. I’m not worried at all. I do everything one step at a time, and I try to be as confident doing so as possible.”

For Stephen to achieve everything he sets his mind to, he needs to believe it completely. And right now, he believes that he can do anything. That mantra is inscribed on the forefront of his sneaker, penned as “I Can do all things…” (Editor’s note: The full quote is “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13) Tomorrow won’t come across his radar until tomorrow. But when it rolls around, know that he’ll have the same confidence and faith that he has today.

And here's some video footage of him in action:

NBA Draft '09

Yesterday was a mix of emotions ...

The good, was getting to watch the NBA draft "live" as it happened on channelsurfing.net. This is the first time I've ever been able to actually watch the draft and it was great! It would've been even better if I knew more of the players but now that I have One HD I'll get the chance to watch more college basketball from now on.

The bad, was waiting and waiting and waiting as team after team failed to pick Aussie Patrick Mills. I was e-mailing friends updates and we were all shocked and amazed at how far Patty fell. By the time we got to the second round of the draft, I was literally shaking my head as I watched team's pick players not named Mills, random euro-players that have done nothing on the world stage, players that would be "shelved" for a couple of years until they were more ready for the NBA. Meanwhile, Patty Mills who has proven himself on the world's biggest stage at the Olympics against the USA and the rest of the world's best, had to wait until pick # 55 when his name was called by the Portland Trailblazers.

I wasn't alone in my shock at the fall that Patty took, he was believe to be going mid to late in the first round. Check out the live draft coverage from Dime yesterday and all the comments about Mills ... sure, they were all probably Aussies, but that's not the point. LOL

Here are some highlights from the early picks in the 2009 NBA Draft:

Basketball junkie

If you're a professional basketballer and your season is just finished, what do you do? Well, if you're hoops-junkie John Rillie, you pack up the family and head to the US in time for March Madness! To keep up to date with his travels and college basketball diaries, stay tuned to his blog.

He's landed in Phoenix but there is no word yet if John will be catching up with our boy Steve Nash to take him on in person with some of the basketball shooting challenges he's laid down.

Click on the title below to read the full story of his arrival in the US and also to see a ridiculous dunk from one of his boys at Gonzaga.

JR, On Fire

My family and I have finally made it to Phoenix, AZ (we used all the above mentioned modes of transport) and I just had to strap on one (toothpicks in eyes) as the NCAA Tourney was just getting interesting as I nestled into my new couch of the next couple of weeks.

I am rather delirious right now so I will make it short in fear of saying something stupid.

My toughest decision of the day was deciding which game to watch. A barn burner in the tourney, VCU/UCLA or a ripper in the NBA. The Cleveland Cavs and the young Portland Trailblazers.

I love these types of decisions and I cannot wait to wake up in the morning refreshed ready to do it all again.