CONVENTION CENTER, OAKLAND MARRIOTT, OAKLAND, CA — At a venue reserved only for the grandest of ceremonies, Exhibit Hall West of the Oakland Marriott at the ground floor of the Golden State Warriors‘ headquarters, the acceptance speech of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, Stephen Curry, became a celebration of where the franchise had been to where it is now. And if that wasn’t enough, Curry laid down the gauntlet for a championship run.
Curry manifested the moments. From recalling his childhood upbringing, his path to the Warriors, then cherishing memories with each of his teammates, one-by-one, all the while reminding everyone that the Maurice Podoloff trophy would be remiss without the Larry O’Brien.
With all hands on deck — Warriors employees who work in , media, and family guests — of course, there was plenty of anticipation, and Curry’s immediate family was dressed for the occasion…
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…including his wife Ayesha Curry and baby Riley Curry, as well as a brand new Kia car that would be donated to the East Oakland Youth Development Center.
Ayesha and Riley Curry
#StephCurry #MVP #Warriors pic.twitter.com/l84wn1otHa
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 4, 2015
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With Warriors TV announcer Bob Fitzgerald the master of ceremonies, the event started with introductions from Warriors general manager Bob Myers and head coach Steve Kerr.
Myers’ opening was brilliant.
“I remember about four years ago sitting in a doctor’s office with Steph and I think our trainer and doctor, and he had hurt his ankle, and he rolled it without stepping on anybody’s foot and everybody was discouraged and frustrated.
“I remember sitting there looking at Steph and thinking, and I didn’t know him that well at the time, that this is not how it’s supposed to be for this guy. This isn’t right and this isn’t fair,” recounted Myers. “…fast forward in my own mind to today and I sit here sharing a stage with him thinking this is how it’s supposed to be for Steph.”
Myers acknowledged Curry’s family, then summed up Steph perfectly.
“I think you all know what he can do on the basketball court, but to be honest, you’re missing the best part of him.”
Myers concluded, joking, “I do have one concern. About a week ago I saw him enter our facility with sunglasses on inside, and I think that’s always the beginning of going in the wrong direction. So I told him that. I said, ‘Is this what we’re doing now? We’re doing this inside?’ That was a true story, actually.”
Kerr said he could think of only two players in his long NBA career as a player, broadcaster, general manager, and coach that reminded him of Curry: Steve Nash and Tim Duncan.
“I’ve played with Tim in San Antonio and was in management with Phoenix when Nash was there, and the similarities are really striking. This is what I see with all three: Incredible confidence, amazing skill. Confidence to the point where maybe you dribble behind your back 30 times and take a fadeaway 35‑footer and your coach is going, ‘Oh, my God, what are you doing? Great shot. Great shot. Way to go,” said Kerr. “Nash had that, Duncan has that, Steph has that. Yet the foundation beneath all that is this incredible humility and humanity and a quiet strength.”
Steph’s humility would be a consistent theme throughout the event.
After Curry accepted the award from Kia Motors Director of Marketing Tim Chaney…
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…Curry started things off by thanking his wife, getting a little choked up, while mentioning they had known each other since they were 14 or 15 years old.
“We’ve both grown into adults,” he said. “We’ve moved cross country together, started a new life, and you’re my backbone.”
He then thanked his parents and got a little more choked up while thanking his dad, Dell Curry.
“I remember a lot of your career, and to be able to follow in your footsteps, it means a lot to me.”
After his brother Seth Curry, his sister Sydell Curry, “Grandma Candy”, and Davidson College teammate Bryant Barr, Steph thanked his old coaches, Charlotte Christian coach Shonn Brown [read the full report by Langston Wertz Jr. and Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer] and Davidson’s Bob McKillop, but Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group noticed that Curry left out any mention of Mark Jackson.
Aside from Lacob, Guber, CEO Rick Welts, Myers, former general manager Larry Riley — who drafted Curry in 2009 — equipment manager Eric Housen, head of security, Ralph Walker, and PR/Communications staff Raymond Ridder, Dan Martinez, Lisa Goodwin, Brett Winkler, and Matt Desnesdera were also acknowledged. So was Jeff Austin, his agent at Octagon.
“Walking in the locker room, I see a new pair of shoes sitting in front of me with a Sharpie in there laced up, those little things mean a lot,” said Curry in appreciation of Housen.
Of course, he also thanked the fan base, with a perfect segue from thanking the Warriors’ employees.
“The work that we’ve been able to do, and just spreading across Dub Nation, so thank you guys for being there. Speaking of Dub Nation, say it all the time, we’ve got the best fans in the league, man,” Curry said. “We were awful. We won, I think, 23 games my rookie year and a couple years after that finally cracked the ceiling and made the playoffs. You walked in our arena back in ’09 or even before that, and you wouldn’t know this is a losing team that was well outside of the playoff chase by the way the energy in the arena was every single night.
“This is a minor checkpoint on that mission. So we’re going to make a strong push at this thing and protect Warriors’ ground in everything that we do.”
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Steph also thanked his teammates, one-by-one, as they were seated on the stage with him. Most of them had a little anecdote of his time together with that player and Rusty Simmons covered most of it, but there were other funny and interesting moments, including motioning towards owners Joe Lacob after he was done praising Draymond Green, as if to encourage them to give Green a maximum contract during the off-season.
“You need to be highlighted as a part of this process, and as a part of the team that we built, and a reason why this trophy is it sitting here, and hopefully another trophy will be sitting here in a few months,” Curry explained as he started the acknowledgments with his teammates.
As Curry went on and on, Kerr could be seen, smiling — by some accounts from reporters tweeting from the event, “beaming” — in admiration of his team leader.
“Phew, got through that,” Curry said when he wrapped up. “We’ll remember this year no matter how it finishes, really. But we have a huge goal in mind this year, and we’ll be able to talk about it for years to come.
It takes all 14 guys. You can’t have one bad apple in this equation, and we don’t.”
Curry closed his speech by inspiring others.
“You don’t have to live anybody else’s story. Sometimes people make it seem like you have to have certain prerequisites or a crazy life story in order to be successful in this world But the truth is you really don’t,” Curry said. “Make sure you live in the moment and work your butt off every single day, and I hope I inspire people all around the world to just be themselves, be humble, and be grateful for all the blessings in your life. I’m truly honored to be your MVP this year.”
Fitzgerald then opened the floor to questions from the media.
After the first question, Green motioned for the microphone from the Warriors PR staffers.
“One thing I wanted to ask that I got out of Luke (Walton, current Warriors assistant coach and former Los Angeles Lakers player) is when Kobe (Bryant) won an MVP, they all got watches. You keep mentioning us like we’re a part of this,” Green said, “so I was just wondering what our gift was?”
Curry, who had just gotten the whole team PlayStations the week before…
…showed no hint of an ego and used the moment to make a pledge that only a humble leader could pull off.
“I warmed you guys up with the PlayStations last week. That wasn’t good enough though. I understand, I understand. That gift was to buy me some time until this announcement, and now I can up the level of the gift before we get out of here in June. So don’t worry. I don’t know what kind of watches they were, but I’ll beat that gift.”
Green gave Curry a salute of appreciation.
Draymond with the salute to #StephCurry after Steph acknowledges he'll have gifts for the guys a la Kobe's watches. pic.twitter.com/EZ6Sy1scvN
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 4, 2015
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On the way out of the event, I passed by Warriors TV color commentator Jim Barnett, who lauded Curry’s speech, saying how he noticed Kerr as Steph acknowledged each member of the team.
Barnett hit the nail on the head, in admiration of how Curry’s speech was “everything that a coach could dream of. Steph set them up for a championship.”
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @GSWDelivery via NBA Snapchat)
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