Stephen Curry sits out NBA restart while Seth plays on as dad watches closely

Stephen Curry won’t be playing when the NBA resumes play in Orlando, Fla., on July 30, and that’s fine with his father, Dell Curry.

The Warriors, 15-50 when play was stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic, had the worst record in the NBA and weren’t among the 22 teams to qualify for the restart. Nor will the Warriors participate in any summer scrimmages, opting instead to keep everything in-house in planning for next season.

“He’s excited for next year,” Dell Curry said on a conference call to promote the American Century Golf Championship at Edgewood Tahoe July 10-12. “Everybody is going to be healthy and rested. The Warriors are going to focus on practice. Klay (Thompson) is healthy now and they’re going to work him in slowly. They’re thinking they can be contenders, but the west is going to be really tough.”

Not that Dell Curry won’t be watching what goes on on Orlando. Seth Curry, three years Stephen’s junior at 29, was enjoying one of his best seasons with the Dallas Mavericks when the season was suspended. The Mavericks were 42-27 and are the seventh seed in the Western Conference.

“I’d love to have both my guys playing and be able to support them,” Dell Curry said. “But I think the time off for Steph and the Warriors team is going to get is going to be very beneficial to them.”

After visiting with Seth last week, Dell Curry came away feeling good about the setup in Orlando.

“He’s very comfortable about the way the NBA is going about their business and the protocols, setting up the bubble,” Dell Curry said. “The players are very informed. He’s excited to get back on the floor. I feel comfortable that everything is going to be safe.”

Seth Curry was averaging 12.6 points per game for a young Mavericks team with 24 starts in 59 games, averaging 24.5 minutes per game. It’s the second time Curry has averaged in double figures, averaging 12.8 points for the Mavericks in 2016-17. He played last season for Portland.

“He hurt his ankle a couple of weeks before the season was suspended but he’s healthy now, ready to go and looking forward to making the playoffs with a young team and seeing how far they can go,” Curry said. “Hopefully they can get to that second round and have the family come and join him.”

With 22 teams playing at one venue, Curry likened the setup to a youth basketball tournament.

“I’m thinking the NBA is going to be like a glorified AAU tournament that’s really going to be intense,” Curry said. “Everybody is going to be right there. You’re going to be rubbing elbows with guys, going to the same gym. If everybody stays healthy and everybody has their players, it’s going to be a shootout until the end.”

Charles Barkley, who was also on the conference call promoting the celebrity golf tournament, is curious to see how it all shakes out.

“With all the crap we have been through this year to go to Orlando, play without fans and motivate yourself, it would be a great accomplishment,” Barkley said.

Barkley believes the alternative, however, would be unsightly.

“My concern is stopping this thing and a bunch of people get sick or a bunch of great players are not able to play,” Barkley said. “The worst-case scenario would be the New York Knicks against the Sacramento Kings playing for the championship.”

At least half of that scenario isn’t possible, as the Knicks did not qualify for restart.

As for the Warriors, a team for which Barkley’s opinion has fluctuated wildly over the years, the TNT analyst stressed the return of Curry and Klay Thompson while appearing to take at least a minor swipe at Draymond Green.

“Obviously they’re going to have a lottery pick. Any time you’ve got Klay and Steph, you’re going to have a good team. Draymond is a good little player,” Barkley said. “The jury is still out on the rest of that team.”

BARKLEY ON SOCIAL JUSTICE

Barkley lent his support to police while conceding a need for reform  and believes economic equality is the most important factor facing the country’s racial divide.

“I think we need cops. All these fools on television, talking about defunding the cops,” Barkley said. “Good neighborhoods and white neighborhoods are not going to defund cops. They’re only going to defund the cops in poor black neighborhoods and poor white neighborhoods. And who are black people supposed to call? Ghostbusters?

“We need cops. But we need police reform because the bad cops are giving the good cops a bad name. Anybody who thinks we can have a civilized society without cops, they’re being disingenuous.”

 

 

 

 

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