12.16.2009

Making the argument

Steven Resnick at Bleacher Report:

The more I think about Stephen Curry, the more I believe he should have stayed in college for another year at Davidson.

No. Wrong. First, he wouldn’t have been drafted as high as seventh because of what he would’ve been asked to do at Davidson this year, and because of the quality and depth of the coming draft class, too. Second, the rest of the guys on the team this year, the older guys but especially the younger guys, wouldn’t have developed the way they’re having to develop right now. Third, what we would’ve seen this year not only wouldn’t have been Davidson basketball -- it wouldn’t have been basketball, period, not really. It would’ve been a show, packaged and sold as such by the American sports entertainment industrial complex, a show that would’ve been titillating for many but ultimately burdensome and unfulfilling for the participants and also the closer, more thoughtful spectators.

2 comments:

Remembering Vaughn Earl said...

Your point about the arrested development of other players if Steph had stayed around is interesting. Davidson would be undefeated right now, but the many opportunities for in-game experience would have been lost for several players. The interesting part is whether or not that's a trade people would have been willing to make.

If Stephen had "stayed," it seems that the expectations of band-wagon fans and the media would have been nearly unfulfillable: success would have been measured by whether or not Steph could carry Davidson to a Final Four appearance.

Steph is an NBA starter, albeit on a crappy team. (A lot of NBA teams are crappy.) Yes, there's pressure and a spotlight, but they are shared and somewhat diffused. The attention this year at Davidson might have been withering. At the least, it wouldn't have been fun.

MichaelKruse said...

1. I'm not sure Davidson would've been undefeated at this point if Stephen had stayed. I'm not sure about that at all.

2. Interesting, your thought on the "trade" people would or would not have been willing to make, and I think it comes back to a question that's been in my mind at certain moments so far this season: Why do you watch?