Brandon on Stephen

Up in New York, back in June, in my reporting for the book, Brandon Williams and I sat in the cafeteria of his building and he said Stephen -- again, back in June -- had gotten “to the realm of national folk hero.”

Brandon’s a Davidson alum, Class of ’96, and a Davidson basketball alum, obviously, but he’s also the NBA’s director of basketball operations, so (1) he knows the sport, (2) he knows the business of the sport, and (3) he’s not some crazy, irrational fan.

More from Brandon:

“Stephen doesn’t come along often for college basketball -- much less for Davidson.”

“NOBODY has had this guy in a long time.”

“What I saw and recognized about Steph -- the day we beat Wisconsin, we were back at the hotel, in the lounge, and on those plasma TVs was, ‘Steph Curry, Steph Curry.’ And he was being a college kid at midnight. He was eating pizza with his roommate and his roommate’s dad. He stopped and watched and listened, but he was shooting pool, laughing and being silly.”

“He wasn’t Steph the superstar, with shades on, basking in NBA glory, is my point.”

"He’s enjoying college. It’s about hanging out with the White Lobster. And how much fun is that?"

“The last time you sit around and eat pizza and drink hot Gatorade is in college. Because everything will MATTER after that. Pro basketball? It’s a different world.”

“I saw a kid shrugging it all off. He’s not naive. It’s not like somebody’s programming what he’s supposed to be saying. It’s not like he doesn’t get that being on Conan is a big deal. But I don’t get that it alters who he is.”

“Davidson will protect him. Davidson doesn’t have enough experience to exploit him. I don’t know if we know HOW to exploit him the way other people would.”

“Curry as a pro? Curry coming out? That’s not even the story.”