5 Interesting Segments From Stephen Curry's Interview on the BS Podcast

If you are a fan of the NBA and have scoured all the sports websites out there for quality basketball conversations, chances are that you've heard of a guy named Bill Simmons. He is, in my mind, the best sports podcaster in the business, and ran ESPN's Grantland blog for a long time before opening up his own publication, The Ringer.

Simmons has a great equation with most people within the NBA fraternity, and players like Kevin Durant, among others, have often used his Bill Simmons podcast to put themselves out there and express themselves.

In the dark, dreary days of the offseason when there is no match to rave about or check the highlights of, the Simmons podcast represents possibly the best opportunity to stay in tune with the life and times of the NBA fraternity.

Steph Curry was the latest guest on his podcast, which went live yesterday. Here are a few tidbits that stood out the most from it yesterday:

#1 The emergence of Golden State as contenders

San Antonio Spurs v Golden State Warriors

Simmons started his segment by recalling the last time he'd had a radio interview at length with Steph - back in 2013. He then went on to list all that Curry's achieved in the intervening period - first All-Star Game selection, MVP, a championship, the unanimous MVP run, the 73-9 record and blowing a 3-1 lead in the Finals before winning back-to-back titles in the last two seasons.

He then posed the question: "When did you realize this might happen? Was there a game or a stretch when you were like 'Holy s**t, we might actually win some titles.'?"

Now, as obvious even to casual onlookers, even Steph may not have anticipated the kind of success he's had in the last 5 seasons, and he said as much while marking the 2013 playoffs as the starting point of it all:

"It was somewhere around that 2013 season when it felt like we could win every game we showed up to, whether or not we had the experience. Jarrett Jack was an experienced, old head who was there around those times, and he brought that presence into the locker room."

"Our speed and talent got to the Spurs in the first two games, but they closed out that series with their experience. It was a real eye-opener."

Bill Simmons, like pretty much every basketball fan who follows the NBA rabidly, believes that Klay Thompson is the best man's man on the Warriors' roster, going on to say:

“Oh, that guy, he’s everybody’s favorite teammate. There will always be multiple choices. And with Klay [Thompson], it just seems like he’s everybody’s favorite teammate."

Curry replied in the affirmative: "100 percent. Even DeMarcus [Cousins] said it in his press conference. He doesn’t even play with Klay, besides in the Olympics two years ago, but he’s like, 'That’s my favorite guy already.' And he hasn’t spent a day in the Warriors locker room with us. But yeah, [Klay] has that presence that you need. He’s unique, for sure."

#2 The Travails of Twitter

Kevin Durant has never been far from social media controversy over the past year, ever since the inadvertent revelation of his burner accounts on Twitter. Only these last couple of months of this offseason he's not had to hide behind any of them, choosing instead to take on a number of Twitterati who mention him in a disparaging fashion.

His most recent shenanigans were regarding CJ McCollum's podcast - he took offense to McCollum's endorsement of a tweet that took shots at KD. 'Snakes in the grass, I tell ya boy' - were his parting comments on that issue.

Simmons and Steph went on to touch on that stuff, with Simmons asking him:

"Who’s on your radar? Do you want to call anyone out? Start some feuds? C.J. McCollum keeps throwing daggers."

Steph replied candidly, taking it all in good spirits when he said:

"Portland is a hot topic right now. C.J. and [Kevin Durant] had their thing, whatever. I take that as pure entertainment. NBA Twitter is unreal. Like it’s a thing—it’s a legit thing. And it’s really entertaining."

"Throughout the course of the season, you got [Joel] Embiid’s stuff, you got Enes Kanter, you got all sorts of people just throwing shade back and forth. The NBA pettiness is at an all-time high and I am here for it."

#3 The Boogie question

Nothing has earned the scorn of basketball fans quite like DeMarcus Cousins signing for the Warriors for the taxpayers' mid-level exception of $5.3 million. The double standards in his behaviour were obvious, as it wasn't long ago that he called Durant out for jumping ship onto the Warriors' team.

Simmons got the opportunity to ask Curry about the Cousins signing after a question about how Klay is the best teammate out there, when Steph replied with how Cousins had raved about Klay as his own favourite teammate of all time after signing with the Warriors:

"You mean when you guys cheated and you got DeMarcus even though he’s coming off a major injury?"

Curry took it in good humour, laughing before responding with:

"What are you talking about? What are you talking about?"

Simmons goes on to turn the question into a serious one, saying:

"No, I’m kidding. I’m actually on your side on this. Everyone got so mad with the DeMarcus thing and it’s like the guy tore his Achilles last year. If he comes back in February, it’ll be like a bonus for you guys."

Which is an invite for Steph to sound his mind out, and Curry duly does so:

"I think all the way through, just the benefit of being on our team, obviously for him, is there’s no rush for him to come back. He can really take his time and get right. But, when I look at just the opportunity that comes past January, February, whenever he comes back, to the playoffs, it gives us a whole new dynamic."

"Whatever type of DeMarcus shows up—I know he expects to be back to fully 100 percent and we do too—[he] gives us a new dimension that we haven’t had before, a guy that can actually go get a bucket on the block. We can have guys, shooters around him."

"He’s actually an amazing playmaker, and you’ve seen it in New Orleans. But when he gets the ball at the top of the key, he can break the bigs down and he’s a great passer. Coach Kerr loves great passing big men that can read the defense and make plays. So it’s going to be amazing, man. I’m excited about it. Obviously."

#4 On his altercation with the Pacers

Golden State Warriors v San Antonio Spurs - Game Two

Remember the time when Steph got pushed around by Roy Hibbert? You probably don't. In a regular season game late in February 2013, David Lee and Roy Hibbert had an altercation with Lee pushing Hibbert, who pushed back in retaliation. Probably the smallest player on the floor at the time, Steph rushed to confront Hibbert, but got shoved away pretty effortlessly by the 7'2" center.

The sequence culminated in Curry emulating Jeff van Gundy for a weeny while and holding on to Hibbert's foot, before getting up and getting shoved away again. Hibbert was later ejected by the officials upon an official review.

Simmons brought up the topic pretty late on the podcast, asking him:

"What is the biggest almost-fight you've been in? There was David Lee in it too, once against the Pacers."

Steph proceeds to go into the gory details of the incident, stating the following:

"They separated and looked like they were going to square up again (Hibbert and Lee), so I lose my mind and I'm like 'I'm gonna go grab Roy Hibbert and pull him off'."

"Roy just ripped his elbow off and I go flying towards the baseline."

"The scrum gets towards the baseline more and more, and my guy Klay is holding the ball in his hands aloof from all that's going on with us, just shooting form shots - the ball never goes out of his hands."

#5 Steph's favourite Draymond story

Los Angeles Clippers v Golden State Warriors

Some people think Draymond Green is the most overrated player in the league, while others will go to the ends of the earth to defend his importance to the Warriors. What nobody can do, however, is ignore a raucous presence like him on the floor.

A Defensive Player of the Year winner and the best passer out of the low post in the game, Green brings the life and soul of the Warriors out every time he steps on court, and his tough love allows his teammates to constantly exert maximum effort on the floor in the same manner as he does.

Simmons brings Draymond into the discussion by asking:

"What’s your favorite Draymond story? What’s the one story that captures what it’s like to be on the same team as Draymond Green? Other than the game where he almost got thrown out for trash-talking the Clippers when he wasn’t even in uniform."

Curry goes on to talk about a practice session when Steve Kerr and Draymond butted heads:

"I remember that game. Probably the times him and Coach Kerr get into it. And you’re inside of practice and you don’t know whose side to take. Just like, 'I guess they’re both right, but they’re both wrong.'"

Simmons: What do they argue about? Give me an example. Just where [Draymond] should go on a play?

Curry:

"They argue about a play call or maybe something Coach Kerr has been thinking about for a couple games. ... And [Draymond’s] like, 'Don’t over-coach. We know what we doing.' And coach is like, 'Well, I know you know what you’re doing, but let me just help you as I’m supposed to do. That’s what my job is, to point out things that could be important for us to win a championship.'"

"But they have a real—the respect level between those two is at an all-time high, but they have their moments and it’s just amazing entertainment to watch in practice. Coach’s first year, we were doing some five-on-five drill. It was early season, and Draymond loves talking trash to the whole team—doesn’t matter if it’s me. Shaun Livingston was posting me up on the block and I had no chance to try to contest his shot. And he did a little turnaround, a Shaun Livingston vintage turnaround."