How Good a Pick was Steph Curry?

Connor Ward
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

If only every NBA draft could go as well as 2009.

Longtime Warriors fans know that, prior to the recent success of the team and organization, Golden State was one of the worst-run franchises in the NBA. During that time, one place in which the Warriors’ ineptitude as a franchise consistently manifested itself was the NBA Draft. Between 1976 (the year of the NBA/ABA merger) and 2009, the Warriors made a habit of allowing good draft picks to leave the team (either through free agency or trade), keeping bad picks, and missing picks that would go on to become Hall-of-Fame players. As Bill Simmons noted in his article “How to Annoy a Fan base in 60 Easy Steps,” a team filled of Hall-of-Fame players could be assembled from a list of people the Warriors were capable of drafting chose not to, and would include players like Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton.

Despite their history of having been terrible on Draft day, in 2009, the Warriors made a pick that would define an era of basketball, and that put them on a path to winning two championships in three years and making the playoffs five of the last eight seasons (after making just six playoff appearances between 1977 and 2012).

That pick, of course, was Stephen Curry, whom the Warriors selected with the 13th overall pick of the 2009 Draft. How good a pick was Steph? After compiling data, from BasketballReference.com, on the career PER of every number one pick by the Warriors since the NBA/ABA merger, I created a chart (link below) that shows that Curry is easily the best pick the franchise has made in 50 years.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vS8DKo_pb3ZiVWeEDvnqg4MaMq_EYgvRTyu_lt1g33LCIbRmUQGwL_ZzpbEf56F2eRzgrfb5dHjIgt8/pubchart?oid=1601491150&format=interactive

The big spike in the chart? Yup, that’s Curry, whose career PER (Player Efficiency Rating, widely considered the best statistic for evaluating a basketball player’s individual performance) is 23.4. For some context, Chris Mullin, legendary former Warriors point guard, NBA Hall-of-Famer, and Olympic Gold Medalist, had a career PER of 18.8.

The Warriors did not become a championship caliber team as soon as they drafted Curry, but his addition began a string of NBA drafts in which Golden State selected future all-stars like Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, and solid role players like Harrison Barnes, all of whom would contribute to the team’s championship run.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade