Is Curry going to get cut, like his newly developed arms?

Well, in spite of a fairly average performance vs. France, I say no. Coach played him a fair amount but clearly sees him as a bench player (no insult on this squad though)and I think that he'll make the cut; with Love or Westbrook getting the final ax. Westbrook played well, but is probably gone; just based on his limited playing time and the similar style between him and Rose. KLove...meh; the team needs big men, but he just didn't seem to really mesh with the other players when he was on the court.

Curry's stat line (played about 12.5 minutes):

2 for 7 from the field for 4 points (0/2 from 3pt) [ouch]
1 Assist; 2 steals; 1 turnover [not bad]

2/7 from the floor is pretty bad (28.5%), but with Steph, you can expect that this was just an off shooting night, and he will continue to have the green light to hoist shots. If he makes those threes, you get 1.4 points per shot, which is acceptable. He was blocked on at least two attempted drives, but as an observer, I liked what he was attempting to do. One block was from weakside help on a fast break and I would have liked to see Steph take it up a bit stronger, but he seemed to run out of gas, or for whatever reason, thought he could sneak in a soft layup. Instead, the ball was sent into the stands to spill somebody's nachos.

However, there are always some elements of a game that do not show up in the stat sheet. Steph had a few brilliant plays, including a steal ending in a fancy drive and dish (if anyone can find a video of this play, please post it!). Steph looks a little bigger, the announcers said that he added 20 pounds...not sure about that, but he does seem to be putting in the time at the gym. Look at those guns in the picture above!

Steph looked to be more assertive in taking the ball to the rim (although the results were not too great). This is going to be one of the key developments for him in the upcoming season as Beidrens and Lee are both going to be hanging around the key looking for the drive-and-dump pass.  Increased off-the-dribble penetration will also alleviate some of the predictability in the half-court set (which is probably going to rely heavily on the pick and roll, plus Monta cutting). It was also apparent that he was more aware of controlling the ball and minimizing unnecessary flashiness in order to avoid turnovers.

More importantly, Steph clearly has the skill set to have an effect on both ends of the court. His defense looked pretty solid (although I don't have any stats to back that up). But it looked like he did a good job of staying on front of his man, and his quick hands were obviously a factor in preventing entry passes and generating those two steals. On offense, it looks impossible to take the ball from him while he is dribbling. Even the shots he missed looked pretty going up. His release is ultra fast, and because of his speed and court vision, the defenders have to play off of him in order to maintain position.

Looking forward to the season, I think we should all try to remember that Curry is still extremely young, and only in his second year. Although his play will indeed be miraculous from time to time, we should expect this Warriors team to struggle, especially early in the season, where the schedule looks very, very tough. That said, he is still a growing man/boy, if he can gain another few inches and continue to fill out I think we are in for treat after treat from this guy. Showtime!

 here's a link to the full box score

USA box score vs France