Steph gonna win unanimous defensive player of the year too pic.twitter.com/Kpm947tYvs
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) October 5, 2016
The Warriors played the Clippers in preseason action Tuesday night, and Kevin Durant shot a lot more efficiently than he did in their preseason opener amid some sorta-maybe Vancouver boos. The Warriors looked downright dominant en route to the 120-73 rout, and there was one stretch where plucky Steph Curry seemed to get his hand on the ball a half-dozen times as the Clippers bungled any attempt to get the ball inside the three-point arc.
It’s worth pointing out that he was doing this against the Clippers, a sexy pick by some to upset the Warriors in the Western Conference playoffs (remember, they are the last team to do so in the West). It’s also worth noting that while Steph is probably the worst defender among Golden State starters, he’s no slouch in a defensive crouch.
The pervading attitude toward Steph and his Warriors brethren is one of schadenfreude after they lost a 3-1 Finals lead and a Game 7 at home in their June collapse against the Cavs. And among his peers, Steph isn’t exactly respected, particularly on the defensive end. Both Russell Westbrook and C.J. McCollum are giving this post an exasperated eye-roll if they happen to see, but they don’t get DPOY votes, now do they?
Just follow our logic here for a second.
Because a single preseason game is highly likely to foreshadow the remainder of the NBA regular season and playoffs, and Curry collected three steals agains the Clippers — though we counted four deflections or strips of the ball on that one possession above — what sort of swag will the Warriors send out to reporters in an attempt to woo them on the possibility Steph should claim his first Defensive Player of the Year trophy? Do they even need to send swag? Was that one preseason possession enough for him to claim the award unanimously, as ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh mentions in the tweet?
The NBA season starts in less than three weeks, and it’s still too far away.
